


Tales in ISS

by Lyra_Kero



Series: We've Got No Class [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Delinquent, Detention, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, I did, In School Suspension, M/M, Musical References, Shiro needs booze, did y'all have that?, just one, they're all little shits
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-21
Updated: 2018-11-25
Packaged: 2019-02-05 03:14:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 23,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12785733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lyra_Kero/pseuds/Lyra_Kero
Summary: This wasn't what Shiro had in mind when he became a Teacher's Assisstant. He had dreams of becoming a teacher. Of teaching children and molding minds. Not watching a group of troublemakers in detention.It wasn't even noon, yet, and Shiro needed a drink. (he could probably get one from a student... no. no don't think like that Shiro!)-----Altea Academy doesn't do "detention". They have something called "In School Suspension".And Shiro has to watch this class all. Day. Long.





	1. Dawn of the first day

**Author's Note:**

> I just... really wanted to do a High School AU. Everyone else is doing it.  
> This might become a series, but for now I just have this.  
> I got put in ISS once (for passing notes don't ask) and while thinking up this AU my mind brought up the memory.  
> It was actually very nice and I would have loved to have stayed there the rest of the school year.
> 
> That being said, enjoy everyone being a little shit.

Name: Keith Seong  
Age: 18  
Grade: Junior  
Reason for ISS: Starting a fight  
other information: Students reported Keith and another student in the parking lot shouting at one another. Keith swung first. Other student left with a broken arm and nose.

Name: Katherine Holt  
Age: 16  
Grade: Junior  
Reason for ISS: caught outside room after curfew. disrupting school property  
other information: Katherine refuses to tell what she was planning to do with the four gallons of whipping cream and ten bags of green tea powder. Will ask Henry Garett.

Name: Henry Garett  
Age: 17  
Grade: Junior  
Reason for ISS: caught outside room after curfew. disrupting school property.  
other information: when asked about whipping cream and green tea powder, Henry refused to comply. Bargaining for a lighter punishment didn't help. "Bros before hoes."(sic) Will try talking with Alejándro Hernández.

Name: Alejándro Hernández  
Age: 17  
Grade: Junior  
Reason for ISS: caught outside room after curfew. disrupting school property.  
other information: DO NOT ask Alejándro anything!!!!

 

 

 

Shiro set the stack of papers down and groaned. ISS. In School Suspension.  
Altea Academy didn't like to call it detention. It was "demeaning" and "promoted negative feedback". And _In School Suspension_ didn't?

The four teens filed in an hour ago, Keith surprisingly being first to show and take a seat near the back. Now Shiro raised his head and looked at the group, all with their heads down, diligently working. All except...

"Keith, feet off the desk." the raven haired boy looked over, popping a bubble with his gum before making a show of sliding his legs to the side, his boots landing with a thud on the floor. "And get rid of your gum."  
The boy huffed, rolling his eyes and chewed more. Shiro was about to tell him again, but Keith then made a show of swallowing. He opened his mouth, lolling out his tongue to show the gum was gone, black tongue ring glinting in the crappy fluorescent lights.  
Charming.

"Gross." the brown haired boy spoke. Alejándro, or Lance as he heard the other two call him, scrunched up his face. "That shit is going to stay in your gut for seven years."  
"Please watch your language." Shiro's words fell on deaf ears.  
"That's just a myth," Katie said, tucking hair behind her ear. "it just won't dissolve in his stomach acid."  
"So he'll just shit out a bubble. Gross."  
" _Language_."

Henry seemed to be the only one quiet. Only one doing his work. Good, sweet, pure Henry.  
"English." Henry spoke, not raising his head from his work to high-five both Katie and Lance.  
Nevermind. They're all horrible.

 

This wasn't what Shiro had in mind when he became a Teacher's Assistant. He had dreams of becoming a teacher. Of teaching children and molding minds. Not watching a group of troublemakers in detention.  
It wasn't even noon, yet, and Shiro needed a drink. (he could probably get one from a student... no. no don't think like that Shiro!)  
"Get back to work. Keith, you too." the older man said, trying to keep himself calm.  
"I'm already done." was his response, Keith holding up a couple sheets of paper, flashing it. "May I be excused to the bathroom?"  
"No."  
"But I gotta take a shit."  
"You're not leaving, Keith. You should have used the bathroom before getting here."  
"I didn't need to shit then."  
Lord help him.  
"You can not be excused, Keith."  
"This is child endangerment." a pause. "This is homophobia!"

"Shiro is endangering a gay child!" Katie shouted, looking up, her hair falling in her face once more. "Lance! Did you hear that?"  
"I did, indeed, Pidge!" Lance said, "A tragedy! Wouldn't you agree Hunk?"  
"The absolute worst!" Henry tsked. "For shame, Mr. Shirogane."  
They were all out to get him.

"Fine. Fine! You got five minutes, Keith!" Shiro said, rubbing his temples. He glared, seeing the boy hop up to his feet and saunter out the door backwards, saluting the other three teens in the class. "I'm counting!"  
"Yes, sir, Mr. Shirogane sir!" Keith called out before the door closed behind him. Shiro saw him flip the bird but was too tired to really care. Could he now have the peace and quiet he desperately wanted?

 

"Mr. Shirogane, I too have to use the restroom!" Nope.  
"You have to wait until Keith gets back." Shiro grumbled, looking towards Katie.  
This would be a long day.

 

Keith did come back in time. Four minutes and fifty-six seconds later.  
("I'm not late."  
"Just sit back down.")

 

 

Then Lance started trying to beat Keith at finishing work. Why? Just... why?  
And Keith? Keith didn't try to stop it, oh no! Keith seemed to revel in it! He'd shoot out words to Lance and Lance would quip back.  
"How you doin', Lance?"  
"I'm pretty fucking fantastic!"  
(Shiro has given up on any kind of order in this room. there is only anarchy.)  
"Yeah? What did you get for question twenty six?"  
" _You're on twenty six already?! Hijo de puta!_ "  
"Will you two shut up? I can't think with your stupid pining asses yelling at each other."  
"Rude, Pidge!"  
"Mr. Shirogane, can I go to the vending machine? I want a candy bar!"  
It's ten-thirty. Lord have mercy on Shiro.

 

 

One finally hit. The main lunches were over, and Shiro had the esteemed joy of taking his class to the lunch hall for their turn. They'd behave, right? Right???  
"These sandwiches are gross." Lance grumbled, peeling one of his sandwiches in half. "Today was chicken fried steak day. Don't tell me the lunch ladies didn't make enough for us!"  
"I think they used cardboard instead of meat." Henry spoke up, grumbling as he stabbed a spoon into his pudding cup.  
Keith was silent as he picked out the cheese and pickles in his sandwiches, tossing the latter onto a napkin and shoved them to Katie, who accepted them greedily into her mouth.  
"They should take into account that some students are lactose intolerant." she spoke around a mouthful of pickles. "Keith is only getting like a quarter of his food."  
"That's not how fractions work, Katie."  
"Fractions work however I tell them to work. Fractions are my bitch."  
"Hey. Hey Keith!"  
"What Lance?" the dark haired boy looked over, tearing off a bit of his sandwich and ate it. "You can't have my jello. I will fucking stab you."  
"Would you be the denominator to my numerator?" the tan boy wiggled his eyebrows, causing the other two to snort into their foods. Keith looked unimpressed.  
"Lance you're about as attractive as a math textbook."  
"Well, whenever I open mine I always say _fuck me_ so...."  
"Jesus Christ."  
"Superstar." Katie looked up, eyes wide. "Do you think you're what they say you are?"

Shiro wished he'd packed Vodka instead of water. He could have gotten away with it. Instead he buried his face in his hands as the four children began to sing.

 

 

Back in class, Shiro thought he'd seen it all. Until a paper airplane was airborne. "Henry."  
"It's part of my class project." the boy said, already folding another. As he was, another plane was sent out.  
"Lance." Another. And another. "Alright, stop."  
"But we have to see who has the best paper airplane method!" Lance said, humming as he folded another.  
"When I said you could sit quietly I didn't mean for you to make paper airplanes." Shiro frowned, "Now stop." Another flew, this one landing perfectly on his desk.  
"I win." came a dull voice from the back.  
"Keith!"

 

 

Five minutes after the last airplane was picked up and thrown away (Henry was incredibly distraught over not knowing how Keith folded his plane, Lance was just bitter that Keith's flew farther than his), Shiro raised his head. He heard it.  
"What is that?" he asked, gritting his teeth.  
"What's what?" Lance asked, the four teens looking up to him.  
A beep. _Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep._  
"That!" Shiro said, waving his hand in the air.  
"I don't ... what?" the children were now all looking around at each other.  
"That beeping!!"  
"What beeping?" Katie asked, frowning as she scrunched up her face. Shiro let out a noise and stood, making his way around the room when it stopped. He froze, looking around, though walked back to his desk. Maybe it was nothing. Maybe it was just something from outside. Maybe...  
Maybe it was starting back up as soon as he sat back down.  
_Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep._  
Up. _Silence_. Down. _Beep. Beep. Beep_.  
"I know one of you is doing this." He said, leveling a look to the four teens. They all had straight faces, all looking at him with confusion.  
"Doing what, Mr. Shirogane?" Katie asked, twirling her pen around her fingers. "We're doing our work."  
"Yeah," Henry added, "are you feeling alright?"  
"Maybe you should go to the nurse's office." Keith spoke up, popping another bubble. _When did he put more gum in his mouth?!_  
"I'll watch over the class while you're gone." Lance chimed in at the end, smiling so purely, so innocently.  
These little shits.

The beeping would continue for the next ten minutes. Shiro swore he still heard it for an hour.

 

 

There was a flash of movement. Shiro raised his head from his book, eyes narrowed. Everyone had their heads down, working. He looked over the four teens before letting his gaze drift back down.  
Another movement. This time going the opposite way. Again, Shiro raised his head. Again, the children were working.

This time? This time Shiro moved his head but kept his gaze trained on the four. Katie folded the paper she was working on, not even looking up, and threw it over her shoulder where Keith caught it, effortlessly and unfolded it on top of his own work.  
Sneaky little shits.  
"Do not pass notes." Shiro said.  
"We're not." all four chimed at once. Shiro kept his gaze, and saw as Keith crumple and throw the note to Lance this time, who smoothed the paper out on his leg before sliding it over his own work.  
"I'm not blind. I can see you passing it."  
"We're not passing notes." Katie said, even as Lance arched the paper over to Henry, who caught it and messily unfurled it.  
"Just one." Lance said, humming as he worked, Hunk sliding the paper onto Katie's desk.  
"Then stop passing that note." Shiro swore he could feel the grey hairs forming in his hair. That or it was a migraine.  
"Fine." Katie said.

There was silence in the class, until Shiro heard a quiet giggle. He looked up and closed his eyes. "And get off your phones."  
"It's either this or notes, Mr. Shirogane."  
"How about you do your work and put your phones away before I confiscate them?"  
"How about you fucking try old man?"  
"Keith, you're already in ISS. Your attitude isn't going to get you out."  
"Maybe I don't give a fuck?"

 

They went back to throwing notes at each other. Shiro didn't get back into his book.

 

 

Shiro didn't care. He didn't. He and the four teens spent the last thirty minutes of class watching the clock. All of them had turned in their works to be sent to their teachers. He wanted to go home, change into his sweatpants and have a strong, _strong_ drink and watch reruns of Friends.  
_Tick._  
_Tock._  
_Tick._  
_Tock._

Why was it now they were behaved? They were quiet, packed away their things and sitting proper in their chairs. No one was on their phone. No one was even whispering to another.  
When the bell rang, signaling the end of the school day they all stood, politely pushing in their chairs and filed out the door, swinging their bags onto their shoulders, beginning to talk with one another. Shiro sighed, rubbing his forehead as he gathered his own things, ready to leave.  
Until he heard it.  
"Goodbye, Mr. Shirogane!"  
"Take care!"  
"Later, dude."  
"See you tomorrow!"

Tomorrow? Shiro looked to the stack of papers, pulling out the slips from before and read over them.  
They all had a weeks worth of ISS.  
Oh.  
Oh no.


	2. A chatfic interlude

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A chatfic? In this delinquent AU?
> 
> What are these no-goodnicks up to?? And how will this effect their next visit to ISS?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You may have noticed this turned into a chapter fic.  
> Because I wrote more. This is just a brief period in between the parts.  
> I may make a new series for things that happen outside of ISS (oh I have ideas just gotta get them out)
> 
> Until then, enjoy this thing.
> 
> ShinyPidgey- Pidge  
> HunkyMunkey- Hunk  
> HardGay- Keith  
> BestBoy- Lance
> 
> Also, shoutout to the peeps who make those super long chaptered chatfics. This was actually harder than I thought it was. o7  
> Y'all are doing God's work

**ShinyPidgey:** how did we all get ISS again??  


**HunkyMunkey:** Well… you tried breaking into the school computers again, Lance and I got caught sneaking out of our dorms and keith….  


**HardGay:** Steve tried to start shit. brought up me being adopted. i told him “yea that means i was wanted by my family yours didnt have a choice”  


**BestBoy:** aslkfghjs KEITH!!!!!  


**ShinyPidgey:** omg thats….beautiful  


**ShinyPidge:** i’m so proud  


**HardGay:** so needless to say Steve didnt like that and……...yea  


**HunkyMunkey:** That would explain the shiner  


**BestBoy:** its keith he gets into fights like ALL the time tho we shouldnt be surprised  


**ShineyPidgey:** so why isn’t Steve in ISS with us?  


**HardGay:** because noone saw him hit me first  


**BestBoy:** GG school  


**HardGay:** it’s whatev IDC anymore  


**ShinyPidgey:** it’s kind of normal, isn’t it?  


**ShinyPidgey:** Keith getting into fights like… every day?  


**HardGay:** its not EVERY day  


**BestBoy:** sure jan  


**HardGay:** shut your fuck Lance.  


**BestBoy:** we know u want all this  


**HunkyMunkey:** sigh  


**ShinyPidgey:** can we have a civilized chat for once??  


**BestBoy:** i am totally being civil!  


**BestBoy:** you check yourself before you wrek yourself!!,  


**HardGay:** hes not wrong  


**HunkyMunkey:** guys just drop it.  


**HardGay:** about wanting that. all of that.  


**ShinyPidgey:** Lance I can and WILL hack your shit dont think I wont.  


**ShinyPidgey:** wait hold the phone  


**BestBoy:** ?????  


**BestBoy:** keith? dont u play me rn  


**HardGay:** no playing. this is a shitty way to do this…  


**HardGay:** I like you like…. a lot? Your about as smooth as chunky peanutbutter but your cute and sweet and nice and like… fuck if you asked me out at any point since we met Id have hsaid yes in a fuckin heartbeat.  


**ShinyPidgey:** wow that is … i didn’t think either of you idiots would actually confess. And in such a …. mature? way?  


**HunkyMunkey:** for real that’s so sweet.  


**ShinyPidgey:** does this mean you and Lance will stop being gross dancing around each other?  


**HardGay:** i mean… i guess??  


**HardGay:** i kind of just spilled my guts to the chat…  


**HunkyMunkey:** Gross. But accurate.  


**ShinyPidgey:** Lance? you’ve been awful quiet.  


**HunkyMunkey:** He’s probably overcome with emotion.  


**HardGay:** Lance?  


**BestBoy:** sorry i just  


**BestBoy:** did u just  


**HardGay:** yes  


**BestBoy:** say i wasnt smooth???  


**ShinyPidgey:** that’s what you took from all that lance???  


**HardGay:** i mean i can say no but…. yes??  


**HardGay:** i still like you tho and would date the hell out of you.  


**HunkyMunkey:** A good man right there.  


**ShinyPidgey:** loves you for your flaws. twu luff!  


**BestBoy:** there is no one smoother than me! I could woo anyone!!!  


**HunkyMunkey:** Lance no.  


**BestBoy:** i could even woo you, seong!!  


**HardGay:** no. no Lance no.  


**HardGay:** im wooed. sufficently wooed  


**BestBoy:** this is a challenge! i’ll get you a blushing flustered mess!!!  


**HardGay:** no please dont  


**HardGay:** this isnt one of the scenarios i imagined  


**ShinyPidgey:** i don’t think anyone could have seen this happening  


**ShinyPidgey:** Lance’s need to compete winning over his pining  


**BestBoy:** once i get you to blush and admit im smooth we'll date  


**HardGay:** you are so smooth. my heart is all a twitter. i am a blushing mess.  


**BestBoy:** thats sarcasm i get that  


**HardGay:** fuuuuck  


**HardGay:** no  


**ShinyPidgey:** i don’t know whether to laugh or feel sorry for Keith  


**ShinyPidgey:** i’m so conflicted rn  


**HardGay:** Lance. Real Talk.  


**HunkyMunkey:** ooo He’s using proper sentence structure!  


**HardGay:** I have liked you since freshman year. I have spent so many months imagining dating you. Holding your hand and kissing you and so much gross PDA couple shit and I just really want that. With you. I am so down to date you. Just say the word.  


**HardGay:** “Hey Keith, let’s go see a movie!” Alright Lance! Let’s go!  


**HardGay:** “Wanna go out to eat at McDonald’s after school?” Sure!!  


**HardGay:** “Let’s go make out under the bleachers all first period.” Fuck yeah!  


**HardGay:** Look. Anything! I’ll say yes! Please don’t do this and just ask me out!  


**HardGay:** Hell I’ll ask you! Lance, wanna go out with me? Be my boyfriend and be a couple with me? We can go to to that pizza shack you like with the garlic knots this weekend then like hang out in the park and act like idiots on the playset.   


**ShinyPidgey:** i actually awwed omg  


**HunkyMunkey:** Keith that is surprisingly… not Keith-like. In a good way!!  


**BestBoy:** …  


**BestBoy:** alright  


**HardGay:** !!!!!!!!!!!!  


**HardGay:** YOULL GO OUT WITH ME????!?!!!!?!  


**HunkyMunkey:** Awww!!!! I think I’m gonna cry! This is so great!  


**ShinyPidgey:** Praise the Sun!! \|T|/  


**BestBoy:** just as soon as i get you to blush with my awesome pickup lines and prove im smooth af!!  


**ShinyPidgey:** omg nevermind  


**HardGay:** Lance please.  


**BestBoy:** g2g gotta help set the table for dinner BE PREPARED TO BE WOOED SEONG! Later dudes  


**HardGay:** YOUVE ALREADY WOOED ME  


**HardGay:** LANCE  


**HardGay:** LANCE YOU BEAUTIFUL STUPID POTATO!!!  


**HunkeyMunkey:** I don’t even know what I just saw…  


**ShinyPidgey:** a trainwreck  


**HunkyMunkey:** Keith? Buddy? You ok?  


**HardGay:** my family is probably concerned rn becaUSE I KEEP SCREAMING  


**ShinyPidgey:** i can’t believe Lance’s “i must compete with Keith” instincts won over his “i want to date the fuck out of Keith” ones  


**HardGay:** ASFHAUE;UOTEPWNEVESHEFIHS  


**ShinyPidgey:** tomorrow is gonna be interesting  


**HardGay:** im gonna go drink a tall glass of milk  


**HunkyMunkey:** Keith no!


	3. Commiserating

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A new face has come to help Shiro tame these children.
> 
> Hah. Good one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kay so uh  
> I was actually gonna make y'all wait longer for this (mainly so I could get the next bit started at least) but damn my twitchy fingers!
> 
> So enjoy this.

Katie had a brother. Shiro didn’t know that.

Matthew Holt showed up to help Shiro watch the teens (read: he came to just work on things he had to do and, foolishly, thought it’d be quiet. poor soul.) and Katie greeted him as any sibling would.  
“The hell are you doing here, nerd?”  
“Hello to you too, Pidge.” Matt said, not even looking up from his work.  
“Please sit down, Katie.” Shiro said, feeling relieved when she listened.  
Maybe today would be okay.

 

Shiro believed that for all of ten seconds, after which Lance burst through the door, holding a carrying tray of coffee.  
“Caffeine run, bitches!” the tan boy yelled, “Line up!”  
Matt finally raised his head, eyes wide. “What?” Shiro pitied this man.  
“One shake-like-a-cold-chihuahua!”  
“Thank you!” Katie took a long drink from the cup after she’d taken it from Lance’s outstretched hand.  
“One salted caramel with soy, extra sugar and whip!”  
“Finally.” Keith reached for the cup, but Lance held it back, a wicked grin on his face.  
“You know you’re sweet enough without all this sugar, sugar.” he said, winking to the shorter boy.  
The raven haired boy hummed, “No. Better luck next time.”  
“Dammit.” Lance handed the cup over, “I’ll woo you, Seong!”  
“I’m counting on it.” Keith turned, going back to his seat, hiding his smile in his cup.

“You know you can just date him like a normal person.” Henry said, taking his drink from Lance (a regular mocha, no whip).  
“We have an agreement, Hunk. You were there. I have to get him to blush and then we can date.”  
“Try not using shitty pick up lines, then.”  
“You weren’t invited to this conversation, Pidge.”  
“I invited myself.”

Lance huffed, picking up another cup and walked over to Shiro. “One medium roast, cream and sugar and two shots of espresso.”  
How sweet. “Bribing me won’t do you any good.” Shiro said, but took the drink regardless.  
“Worth a shot.” Lance shrugged before drinking his own coffee. He stopped when he noticed Matt (who, bless his heart, still looked shell-shocked), “Oh. Uh, I didn’t know we’d have a guest. Sorry dude. No coffee for you.”  
“Do.. you do know this isn’t a social gathering, right?” was all the older Holt said. And Lance? Lance laughed.  
“You’re great, buddy!” he said, walking back to his desk.  
“It’s better not to say anything.” Shiro muttered, taking a sip from his cup before standing to hand out the work for the hour.

 

 

 

Loud. _They were so loud._ “Please stop!” Shiro said, looking to the small group. “At least tone it down.”  
“Keith started it!” Lance said, gesturing back to the boy in question.  
“Wanna say that again?”  
“I really can’t handle the mood whiplash between you too.” Henry said, sighing.  
“Seriously.” Katie muttered, “just kiss already and get it over with!”  
“Lance wanted this!” Keith said, jabbing his pen towards the brunet.  
“You said I was, quote _as smooth as chunky peanut butter_!” the taller boy huffed, crossing his arms.  
“Well he’s not wrong.”  
“Rude, Pidge!”

“Alright.” Shiro sighed, “I have twenty dollars in ones. If you all can be quiet for ten minutes I’ll go down to the vending machine and get whatever you all want.”  
“Are you bribing them?!” Matt asked, looking over wide eyed behind his glasses, “Didn’t you _just_ tell Lance _bribing won’t do any good_?”  
“To me.” Shiro waved his hand towards the other man, watching as Lance raised his hand. “Yes, Lance?”  
“May we get together to quietly get our list ready for you?”  
“Fine. _Quietly_.”  
“I don’t believe this.” Matt mumbled, watching as Keith joined the group and together the four children began to write.  
“This is the law of the land.”  
“Am I going to regret being here?”  
“You aren’t, already?”

 

Precisely ten minutes later, Katie walked up to the desk, handing over a sheet of notebook paper to Shiro. “Our demands.”  
“Please don’t word it like that.” the older man said, taking the list and looked it over.  
“We calculated it.” the girl continued, “You’ll have two dollars and seventy-five cents left over. Lance and I were talked out of using all of your money.”  
“How kind of Henry and Keith.”  
“Keith didn’t care.”  
“How kind of Henry.” With a sigh he looked over to Matt. “Do you want anything?”  
“Not with your dirty money.” came his response. Shiro shrugged and stood up.  
“I’ll be back. Please don’t set anything on fire again.”  
“That was one time!” Keith said, throwing his hands up. “Let it go, old man!”  
“What?” Matt’s eyes widened, but Shiro was already out the door, reaching for his wallet and list in hand.

 

When he returned, the four teens were in their original seats and Matt, poor Matt, looked stressed. The teens stood and took their goodies, thanking Shiro before a calm settled over the class, the only sounds coming from bags opening and bottle caps being twisted.  
Shiro sat down at his desk, handing over a bag of Reese’s Pieces. Matt took them. “How did you survive a week?”  
“I stopped giving a fuck.” the black haired man said, opening his own bag of Skittles and poured half into his hand.  
“You are a man broken.”

 

 

Everyone was working quietly when it happened.   
Lance dropped his pencil and stared down at his arm, eyes unblinking. Shiro and Matt both looked up along with the other three teens. “Lance?”  
The boy didn’t respond. He, instead, gave off a noise, grabbing onto his chest and slumped forward. He slowly slid out of his seat and onto the ground. Everyone was around him in an instant; Matt was blabbering, arms flailing, Henry and Keith both knelt down checking on their fallen friend and Katie looked close to tears.

Shiro stared down at Lance from where he was, arms crossed. “Nice try.”

Lance opened his eyes, glaring up to the older man. “What if I really had a heart attack? You’re a terrible adult!”  
“Get back to work. All of you.”  
“My performance was amazing!”  
“Truly moving.” Henry said as he and the other teens began to applaud. Lance bowed, smiling.  
“Thank you! Thank you!”  
“Back to work.” Shiro repeated, rubbing the bridge of his nose as he walked back to his desk.  
“Everyone’s a critic…”

 

 

“This isn’t happening.” Matt said, work long forgotten. In front of him the four teens had begun to sing. And what were they singing?”  
“I see a little silhouetto of a man!”  
“Scaramouche! Scaramouche! Will you do the Fandango?”  
“Thunderbolt and lightning! Very very frightening!”

“This is a madhouse.” Matt continued as Keith sung about being a poor boy.  
“It’s better than last time.” Shiro muttered, though looked ready to break down. “Last time they were singing Eye of the Tiger.”  
“You don’t like that song?”  
“Not anymore.” the black haired man sighed, watching as the group began to headbang.  
“This is our future.” the sandy blond said, defeated.  
“The end is nigh.” Shiro sighed as Lance ended with a solem “Nothing really matters to me”  
And nothing mattered anymore.

 

 

It was lunchtime again. Always a spectacle.  
Once more Keith was pushing pickles to Katie as the group complained loudly about their food.  
“Chicken nuggets! They have to have more back there!” Lance said, waving his arm around.  
“Or at least some cardboard pizza.” Katie added, shoving the pickles into her mouth.  
“I just saved my chips for now.” Henry said, opening a bag of Cheetos.  
“Do you think if I stabbed myself with this straw I’d be allowed to go home? I could stop by McDonald’s or some place with substance.”  
“Keith, don’t. You’ll get straws banned from everyone.”  
“That’s your main concern, Pidge?”  
“I like my straws, Lance.”

“This isn’t even the fifth weirdest thing that’s been discussed in this cafeteria.” Shiro mumbled.  
“Do I want to know?” asked Matt.  
“No.”  
Well okay then.

 

 

Henry had gone to the bathroom, returning a few minutes ago. Everything was fine when he left.  
It started when Shiro noticed Henry rummaging through his bag, muttering to himself, but that wasn’t that strange. He must be looking for something.  
Then Matt screamed.

Everyone’s heads shot up and Henry paled, Shiro catching a faint “oh no” before all hell broke loose.  
A squirrel. Matt had scrambled away from the desk, papers and books flying in all directions as a squirrel bolted from the chaos. Katie yelped, her legs coming up as her and Lance jumped up in their chairs, Lance shouting out in Spanish that Shiro didn’t understand (he caught “diablo” so he at least knew one of those words). And Keith?  
Keith jumped up from his chair to give chase to the squirrel, shouting at the thing like that would make it listen. “Come here you little shit!”  
“Keith! Don’t hurt him!” Henry pleaded, quickly standing up to follow the older teen.  
“ _Hurt it Keith!_ ” Katie shouted. “Why is there a rat in here?!”  
“He’s a squirrel!” Henry countered, though gave out a noise when Katie threw a book towards the squirrel. “Stop! He’s just scared!”  
“Of course he is! _Why is there a squirrel in this classroom?_ ” Lance yelled, gesturing wildly. “Keith! Get that nasty portador de la plaga out of here!”  
“If Pidge will stop throwing shit at it, I can catch it!” Keith shot back as he skidded before slamming into the wall, his head shooting up to follow as the squirrel jumped onto a bookcase. He huffed, looking around the room before grabbing a chair and dragging it over.

“Everyone just calm down!” Shiro said, knowing that his words would do little good. He wasn’t the least bit surprised when Keith slowly climbed into the chair, raising slowly before he tried to grab the squirrel.  
Of course Keith failed.

What hadn’t been that expected was Keith losing his balance and falling out of the chair, pulling the bookshelf down with him.  
Oh god. Shiro was going to be fired.

Lance had jumped off his chair to run to Keith, though the raven haired boy was already sitting back up, groaning. Henry had managed to capture the squirrel, coddling it.  
At that time there was a pounding on the door before it was slammed open.

“What is going on over here?!” the teacher snapped, eyes wide as he took in the scene before him.  
“Sorry about the noise.” Shiro said, holding up his hands, “A squirrel somehow got into the room.”  
“A _what_?” the newcomer's eyes zeroed in on Henry, who was holding the squirrel in his hands, before drifting to Keith and Lance, the latter of whom was gently touching the former’s head and checking him over. “Do you need to go to the nurse?”  
“I’m fine.” Keith mumbled, wincing a bit as Lance found a sore spot on his head. “Just a bump.”  
“You should go to the nurse, Keith.” the other boy said, frowning, “At least get some ice.”  
“I said I’m fine,” there was a definite blush to the pale boy’s face, “seriously. I’ve had worse.”

“I’ll write you a note.” Shiro said, frowning as he went over to his desk, stopping to look at Henry, “Put that outside where it belongs, please.” And the boy complied, head low as he hurried over to the window, opening it.

 

A note later and Lance and Keith were ushered out of the room, leaving the rest of the small group to try and clean up the mess. At least the other teacher had stayed long enough to help set the bookshelf back up, but left rearranging everything to the class.

“Why did you bring a squirrel into the class?” Shiro finally asked, looking towards Henry.

Henry simply shrugged. “He was cute and I thought he could be like our mascot or something.”  
“Hunk, we don’t need a mascot.” Katie said, frowning. “Besides, I can just build a mascot. We’ll call him Rover.”  
“Oh! What about Voltron!”

 

“We’re not having a mascot!”

 

 

It was the end of the day. Everyone had calmed down and was patiently waiting for the bell to ring, Keith gently holding a melting ice pack as he laid his head down on his desk. No words were spoken and when the bell finally hit, everyone gathered their things and left, bidding Shiro goodbye. Shiro and Matt stayed behind, slowly gathering their own things before Matt looked towards the other man.  
“So, uh, that was… a thing that happened.” he said, “You have to put up with this every day?”  
“Only when they’re in here.” Shiro said, absentmindedly.  
“You must have the patience of a saint.”  
“Patience yields focus.” Matt scoffed.

“What is that your catchphrase or motto or whatever?”  
“No,” Shiro said, standing up from his chair, “I read it in a fortune cookie once.”  
“What a shitty fortune.” a pause. “See you tomorrow?”

Shiro smiled, “Welcome to my hell, Matt.”


	4. Zarkon's Car Becomes a Winter Wonderland

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "ITS A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE!!!!"
> 
> Likes: 1,456 Dislikes: 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> pfff What's a proper upload schedule?  
> I'm just setting myself up for failure. I know it.
> 
> I'll burn that bridge when I get there.
> 
> Enjoy seeing what the troublemakers did to get into ISS.  
> Again.

The video was shaky as the person holding it moved their phone, passing over the crowds of students. The ground was slightly wet from the rainfall that had occurred earlier that day, but for the most part there seemed nothing out of the ordinary.  
Yet.  
A thick, British accent could be heard saying “oh my god” before the video had settled.

There, zooming in, a deep purple Mercedes-Benz came into focus and laughter and giggles made sense: the inside of the beautiful luxury car was filled with white foam. Completely.  
“Holy shit.” the camera panned over to a group, a tall lanky kid with stringy blond hair under a grey beanie laughed. Rolo brushed the hair from his face. “How the fuck did that happen?” The rest of his stoner friends laughed as well as the camera panned from him to another group.

A girl with hair pulled back into a ponytail giggled with her friends, one with long brown hair and the other with hair dyed a teal color. The cheerleaders snickered behind their hands.  
“Oh my god!” Nyma said, brushing her hair over her shoulder. “Zarkon is going to be so pissed!”

More panning and the video settled on another group. Lance was draped over Hunk’s shoulders as he was laughing loudly, Hunk’s shoulders shaking with barely suppressed giggles. Pidge, the tiny demon, was cackling manically and Keith was doubled in on himself, his foot stomping at the ground in an attempt to not laugh. “Keith!” Lance wheezed, pushing himself from his best friend and latched onto the older boy, shaking him. “Keith look at it!”  
Keith did, his face red and his lip bitten.  
“Keith! _It’s a Christmas miracle!_ ”

 

That did it. The dam broke and Keith began to laugh loudly, his hand flailing out and slapping at Lance’s chest as tears rolled down his face. “Lance!” he gasped out in between laughter, “Lance! The.. t-the snowmen!! There’s fucking snowmen!!!”

The phone panned back to the car, “Snowmen?” the holder asked, zooming in more. Soon her laughed filled the speakers as, sure enough, tiny little snowmen were seen pressed into the foam, smiling out to the crowd of children, their tiny plastic arms waving cheerfully to all.  
“I think I see a Santa!” Lance said, pointing to the car. The camera moved as the owner tried to spy the Santa, finding the jolly fat man in the foam, face red and cheery as he laughed. “Do you think there’s eight tiny reindeer too?”  
“Oh, it’s like a game of I Spy!” Florona said, squealing somewhere to the right of the phone holder.

The joyous laughter died, however, and a hush fell over the crowd. A tall man stormed into the frame, his eyes narrowed and jaw locked in rage. He looked over the car before turning to face the crowd, his open business coat flaring behind him like a cape.  
“Who is responsible for this?” Vice Principal Zachariah Arkon snapped to the group, his eyes training on each student as if he could sense trouble. It fell on Rolo’s group, before passing to the cheerleaders. To the French Club. Finally to the odd group of AV club members, the Swim Team captain and that weird kid from Theater Club. “I will find out who did this!” He moved to open the car door, only to find it locked. There were some muffled laughter as Zarkon growled, digging his keys from his pocket and unlocked his luxury car and jerked the door open. Foam slowly moved out of the new opening like marshmallow fluff and he began to reach his hands inside to pull the white magic out, tossing it to the ground along with any decorations.

There were, indeed, eight tiny reindeer. As well as five golden rings, four calling birds (on adorable telephones), three french hens (wearing berets and had little twiddly mustaches), two turtle doves.  
“And a partridge in a pear tree!”  
“Lance, shut up!!”

 

“You four!” Zarkon wheeled around, pointing to the group. “To the principal’s office! Now!”

“We didn’t do anything!” Pidge yelled, squaring her shoulders and glared to him.  
“Yeah!” Lance crossed his arms.  
“It’s not like you’ve got any proof anyway.” Keith added, the smile from his face gone.

“I will have a talk with Professor Ryner about having liquid nitrogen readily available to her students. Office. Now!” Zarkon scanned the crowd, settling on the phone’s holder. “Miss King! Put that phone away!!”

 

There was a curse and the phone quickly panned down, showing off a pair of expensive looking heels before the video was cut.

 

This video has been viewed nearly one million times and has over ten thousand likes since it was uploaded before Christmas break.


	5. Glad You Came

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A new face in ISS!  
> New shenanigans that they get into!
> 
> And some more Klance because why the hell not?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So my Beta/Person-Who-Reads-My-Shit has gone awol for the past few days, having problems with their homelife.  
> So uh... this is kind of unbeta'd.
> 
> Which also means Husker is gonna take a hell of a lot longer to post because that shit's got me all kinds of "what the hell am I doing" even though I've got the chapter finished.  
> I think I just want to finish writing out the rest of it, first, before posting that.  
> Uh, sorry.
> 
> Also I don't think this one is shorter than the other chapters?  
> Maybe it is. I'm bad at gauging these things.  
> Sorry if it is.
> 
> Hope y'all had a great New Years!

The group of four troublemaking children filed in the same as always; Keith first and early, Lance bringing up the rear just before final bell with caffeine in tow. Only now, once the coffee was distributed (Matt got his own cup this time having been welcomed into the group. Shiro didn’t know if that was a good thing or not), and Shiro was gathering up the papers to pass out, he stopped.  
“Something wrong Shiro?” Katie raised an eyebrow, kicking at Lance’s leg to get him to scoot back to his desk and stop being gross and cuddling with Keith.  
“I’ve got an extra paper.” Shiro said, setting everything down and looked through everything, making sure he didn’t miscount or print off extra. He then pulled out the slips of paper, dictating who was in ISS that day.

Keith; tampering with Vice Principal’s car  
Katie; misuse of school property  
Henry; misuse of school property  
Lance; backtalking Vice Principal

 

Allura King.

 

That was a new name. He looked over the paper, frowning.  
Reason for ISS: using a cellular device on school property, cussing out Vice Principal

He looked up to the group.  
One, two, three, four. Nope. Just his usual band of troublemakers.  
“Uh, does.. Anyone know an Allura King?” Of course Lance shot up straight (hah), raising his hand. “You don’t have to raise your hand.”  
“Allura’s the most popular girl in school!” he said, lowering his hand back around Keith’s shoulders. “Name a club she’s in it. I hear she’s on her way to be Valedictorian.”  
“She’s also the daughter of Principal Alfor.” Katie added. “So, you know, she’s got a good running chance at that.” Sounded like someone was bitter.

“So has anyone seen her today?”  
“No, why?”

At that moment the door was pushed open and in walked Allura King, her hair pulled back into a ponytail. “Sorry I’m late! I was caught up helping the cheer team and I didn’t notice the time!” she said, smiling wide and flashing her pearly white teeth. She cast her gaze around the room, settling on the group before her smile fell slightly. “Why are you two cuddling?”  
“Uh, ‘cause Keith is my super hot boyfriend?” Lance said, moving his free hand to motion all of the _super hot boyfriend_ next to him. “Plus he’s into PDA.”  
Keith only shrugged and took a sip from his cup.

“No I mean,” her gaze turned towards Shiro and Matt, eyebrows raised, “are you going to allow this?”  
Shiro and Matt exchanged looks, before turning back towards Allura.

“They’re not disrupting the classroom right now. Please take a seat.”

Allura took her seat two rows behind the rest of the group, lips pursed together as she stared at the four in front of her. With a sigh, Shiro once more picked up the papers he’d printed off and passed them out to his group of children.

Just when he got used to everything.

 

 

Or not. Because now? Now the group seemed to … kind of be getting along?  
They were playing Pictionary.

“What the actual fuck is that?” Keith said, finally, gesturing to whatever Katie was drawing. She only huffed and gestured to the … thing as if it was obvious.  
“It’s a book...” Henry grumbled, “Dante’s Inferno?” Katie only gave a glare, erasing and drawing again. “That looks the same as the last one!”  
“One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish!” Lance said, yelping when Katie threw the marker cap at him.  
“Jurassic Park?”

“Yes!” Katie said, throwing her hands up.  
“How the fuck is that Jurassic Park?” Keith said, pointing to what Katie drew.  
“It’s the gate!” Katie said, huffing before marching over to Keith and shoved the marker in his hand. “If you’re going to bitch about my art, then you take your turn!”

The black haired boy rolled his eyes, detangling himself from his boyfriend’s arms, squealing when Lance placed a kiss on his neck before he was free and went up to the board. He thought for a moment, erasing Katie’s drawing and started to draw. “Movie.” he said, before falling silent.

Everyone stared, frowning, “Frozen?”  
“Uh… no that.. .looks like an animal… Jungle Book?”  
“Bee Movie.”  
“Shut up, Matt. That’s not a bee!” Katie grunted, glaring at her brother.  
“It’s…” Lance’s eyes widened and he covered his mouth. “Keith! That’s Bambi and you’re terrible!”

“What?” the older boy asked, innocently, picked up the red marker.  
“Don’t you dare!”

Keith dared. With sloppy motions he scribbled red over the lump that was now, clearly, a deer.  
A dead deer.  
“You drew Bambi’s mom!”  
“You drew Bambi’s _dead_ mom!”  
“Have you no shame?!”

Keith laughed, capping the marker and took a step back to admire his work. “I don’t know. I think I did pretty good!”

Shiro sighed, “Can we move on?” he said, rubbing his temple. “You have ten minutes until the bell rings, so hurry up.”  
“You’re just mad that you’re losing.” Matt teased, causing the other man to huff.  
“Losing what? No one’s keeping score!”  
“Your sanity.” the sandy blond said, shrugging. He was met with an even stare.

“Matt, I’ve lost that a long, long time ago.”

 

 

Okay. Shiro would admit that this was a mistake.  
He, once more, found himself on a vending machine run for the class. He had given the teens their goods and sat back down. Everyone had gone back to their work, quietly eating and sharing snacks and it was fine.

Supposed to be fine.

“Why are they sitting on the floor?” Allura finally snapped, huffing as she trained her eyes on Lance and Keith who were, yes, sitting on the floor, Keith in between Lance’s legs as the two quietly worked. Or Keith was reading something and Lance was resting his head on Keith’s shoulder, lazily following along, made obvious when he’d move his hand over Keith’s when the smaller boy started to turn a page he wasn’t finished with.

“Uh, because we can’t cuddle comfortably in our desks?” Lance said, not raising his head from his boyfriend’s shoulder. Keith only hummed in agreement, turning the page once Lance finished.

“Well it’s very distracting! Go back to your seats!” Allura said, frowning as her eyes narrowed to the two.  
“How about you just shut the fuck up and mind your own damn business?” Keith said, making a point to snuggle closer to Lance. When she only made a huff, Keith reached into the bag of chips by his side and, blindly, threw them back.  
They hit their mark, judging by the shriek.

“How _dare_ you!” she cried, standing up, knocking her chair back.  
“Quite easily. Now siddown and shut up. You’re disrupting class.” Keith said, his eyes never leaving his book.

Allura glared, her eyes narrow before she grabbed her own food. Before Shiro could say a word, it was thrown, hitting both Lance and Keith. The two stopped, seemingly frozen before they turned their heads enough to look at one another.  
“Don’t.” Shiro warned.

The two boys spun around, grabbing their snacks and began to throw them at Allura, who yelped and began to scramble back, trying to hide behind her chair. Henry and Katie were cackling, playfully tossing food at each other.  
When a piece of candy hit Shiro, however, all bets were off. “Mr. Shirogane! I am _so_ sorry!” Allura began, panicking. Shiro, however, wouldn’t hear it. He sighed, picking up his bag of candy, pouring some into his hand and threw it back at Allura, who gave a betrayed noise as she ducked back down.

It was a free for all, and no one wanted to be the one to clean up the mess afterwards.  
Twenty dollars was wasted in such a short amount of time. Keith and Lance were the ones to clean up, having lost rock-paper-scissors.  
(Keith lost. Lance said he’d help _out of the goodness of his heart and to prove he’s the best boyfriend ever_. Keith playfully tossed some fallen snacks at him at that.)

 

 

Once more at lunch, the group gathered at the same table. Kind of. Allura kept to herself at the table Matt and Shiro sat at, pouting as she watched the group chat and laugh.  
“You know you can go over there.” Shiro said, handing Matt a sandwich, who in turn gave Shiro a small tupperware container of spaghetti, then offered a few cookies, which the other man took two of.  
“They don’t like me.” Allura said, huffing as she bit into her sandwich bitterly.

At the other table, the group began to laugh as Lance began to wave his arms, animatedly, apparently retelling a date he and Keith had been on. “--he tried to jump the fence you guys!”  
“I didn’t try to jump the fence! I just wanted to get a better look at them!” Keith huffed, blushing as he glared at his boyfriend, though it was obvious there wasn’t any malice behind it.  
“Babe, you nearly got us thrown out of the zoo.”

“I’m sure they like you fine.” Matt said, shaking at a bottle of juice before opening it. “You’re just not being open.”  
“I’m open!” Allura huffed, pouting as she saw Keith throw a pickle at Lance, who shrieked dramatically and flung himself onto Henry, crying _”abuse!”_. “They haven’t even tried to talk to me!”  
“Have you tried talking to them?” Shiro asked, biting into one of the cookies, smiling at the taste of macadamia nuts. “It’s a two way street, Allura.”

Allura fell quiet as she looked back towards the group, seeing as Katie had finished eating the pickles taken from Keith and began happily chatting with the group, Lance seemingly forgiven Keith for his attack and was now having the smaller boy wrapped up in his arms as the two ate.  
“Maybe I don’t want to talk to them.” she said, going back to her food.  
“That’ll make your time in ISS a lot tougher if you don’t at least try, Allura.”

At the table the group had dissolved into laughter, Keith doubling in on himself, complaining about his nose burning as he set his carton of juice down on the table, waving his hand around until Henry passed him some napkins to clean up his face and shirt.

“No, I don’t think I will.” she said, scrunching up her face in disgust.

 

The rest of the lunch period passed without incident.

 

 

“Did you just fucking _Blue Shell me_?!” Keith said, his voice cracking as he glared down at his royal blue 3DS (there was something written on it, but Shiro couldn’t make it out).  
“Get your ass out of my way, Seong.” Katie said, smirking down to her own, lime green 3DS XL with a decal of turtles wearing sunglasses and “Squirtle Squad” written proudly in black next to them, sticking out her tongue.

Over Matt’s shoulder, he watched as Yoshi raced into first place past a spun out Bowser that tipped off the stage. Wario taking no pity as he continued past the finish line on Matt’s white 3DS.

Henry on his own white 3DS with what looked liked colored leaves and sprinkles on it hummed happily as he took fourth with Donkey Kong, letting Lance and Rosalina on his NES controller 3DS take after him. Bowser trudging in sixth once he was back on the track.  
“That was bullshit.”  
“That’s the way of the Kart!”

“Fuck you I want a rematch!” Keith turned his head, glaring at Katie as he leaned his back against Lance’s.

“Keep it down, please.” Shiro said, frowning to the group. “I said you could play as long as you were quiet.”  
“At least they’re not playing Monopoly.” Matt offered, reaching for his drink and took a sip from it. “That shit would have everyone in this room out for blood.”

Everyone seemed to relax as they got ready for another round, before a throat was cleared behind them. Looking back, they saw Allura, blushing as she held up a coral pink 3DS, “Um.. may I join in?”

The group stared at her, before exchanging glances with one another.  
“Fine.” Katie said, “Get your ass in here, princess.”

 

The next round, Princess Peach took first, Bowser not far behind as Katie cursed, this time coming in fourth. “Rematch!” she cried, shaking her fist. “Yoshi will not stand for this injustice!”

Shiro couldn’t help but smile, not even bothering to tell the group to settle down again as they all began another round, playfully jabbing and egging each other on.

 

 

“Absolutely not.”  
“C’mon Shiro!” Katie whined, already fiddling with the projector. “School’s over in like thirty minutes.” She gestured to the clock before going back to trying to hook up her laptop to the projector.  
“Then take those thirty minutes and make sure you have everything done.” the older man crossed his arms. “You are not pulling up anything to watch.”

“You’re not seeing the big picture.” she continued, managing to get everything set and walked to the front of the class, jumping twice before managing to grab the screen and yanked it down. “I promise it’s school appropriate.”  
“I don’t care.” Shiro said, narrowing his eyes. “Besides, coming from you _school appropriate_ could mean a lot of things.”

“ _Pleeeease_ , Shiro?”  
Fuck. Fuck there were puppy dog eyes. Big, round, shiny puppy dog eyes.

No Shiro. Be strong. You have to be strong.  
“Please?”  
Now her bottom lip was trembling.

Fuck.  
Fuck.

“Fine.” Katie jumped with glee, clapping her hands before going back to the projector and turned it on, quickly pulling up a video streaming site, humming happily as she flipped through the pages. “Hunk, get the lights please!” she said, waving her hand over to her friend, who stood up from his chair.  
“What are you going to play?” he asked, flicking off the lights, letting the projector’s screen become more clear.

“Lucky Star.” she said, smiling once she got the first episode cued up. Hearing no objections she hit play and sat down next to the projector.

What happened next? Well… Shiro didn’t get that damn theme song out of his head for the rest of the night.

It probably didn’t help that everyone (sans Allura who had admitted to having never watched the show) was singing along and even dancing as well.

 

It was a decent end to the day. Maybe Shiro would allow them to watch an episode a day if they behaved.

Maybe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, uh...  
> Hunk's DS is the Animal Crossing special edition one. He seems the kind of guy who'd play AC. Plus it's a nice looking one.  
> Keith's is the really gorgeous Persona Q special edition (it's mine and I love it and I'm not biased at all shut up) because I headcanon him as an avid J/RPG player so you know he has that one (he also has a Vita too but that prob won't make it into this fic for a while)
> 
> Also the Pictionary scene was taking from what happened during New Years for me.  
> I was the one who drew Bambi's dead mom. I regret nothing. I lived as few men dared to dream.
> 
> Kay, see you next time!  
> (also sorry, not sorry if you got the Lucky Star theme in your head. I actually pulled up the first episode for this fic and uh....  
> My darling, darling, please!)


	6. Clap Clap Clap Clap Your Hands! (and Cha Cha real smooth!)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It seems the group have made a powerful ally since last ISS.  
> It leads to trouble, naturally.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm actually running low on stupid things these children can do. Yikes.
> 
>  
> 
> It was either this song or Boom Boom Boom Boom.  
> I'm not totally sure I made the right choice.
> 
> If it's needed:
> 
> ShinyPidgey - Pidge  
> MothafuckinPrincess - Allura  
> BestBoy - Lance
> 
> This part was going to be longer but I couldn't really figure out a way to incorporate Hunk or Keith in the GC.  
> So, yes. This one is most definitely shorter than the other chapters. I've been sitting on it for a while trying to make it longer (that's what she said) but nada doing.  
> I hope it at least gets a chuckle out of y'all?

**ShinyPidgey** : is everything ready?

**MothafukinPrincess** : Daddy’s been distracted. I will not be part of this. I don’t kno any of you.

**BestBoy** : its been an honor working with u

**MothafuckinPrincess has left the chat**

**BestBoy** : lets get this party STARTED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

\-----------------------

 

Shiro knew something was up.  
Allura had left the principal’s office, smiling and waving back to her father. “Thank you so much, daddy!” she said, “I really appreciate you talking to me about this!”  
“Not at all, Allura.” Alfor said, standing at the door. “Hurry up to your class, now. I don’t want you to be late.”  
As Allura walked down the hall, Shiro tracked her, his eyes falling on Lance and Keith, the shorter boy leaning back against his locker as Lance crowded close to him, the two looking down to their phones.

 

He recognized those shit-eating grins.

 

Everyone’s heads shot up as a beat began to play over the loudspeakers, but Shiro kept his eyes trained on the two boys.  


_”This is something new.”_ the speakers proclaimed. _”The Casper Slide part two.”_  
The kids in the hall muttered among themselves, looking around.

_”Alright we gonna do the basic steps”_ and… yep. _”Slide to the left.”_  
Lance slid to the left, gaining the attention of everyone.

_”Slide to the right.”_  
Keith joined in sliding to the right. 

_”Take it back now, y’all.”_

More children were joining in the impromptu flash mob. 

By the time _”Now it’s time to get funky!”_ there was a literal mob of children dancing in unison. It was actually surprisingly well done.  
The ones that didn’t join in were filming it.  
(Shiro was not filming. But he could make out Matt in the crowd with his phone out. He might ask him for a copy.) 

_”Everybody clap your hands!”_  
The claps were deafening. 

_”How low can you go?”_ was asked. _”Can you go down low? All the way to the floor?”_  
Shiro would deny laughing when he saw Lance dropping down low and Keith being quite literal and laying down flat on the ground, only to be grabbed by the hands and pulled back up to _”Bring it to the top.”_

Alas, all good things must come to an end. The music cut out and the group of children all continued to dance until they realized what happened. There were a few muttering before Vice Principal Arkon stormed down the hall, eyes narrowed, zeroing in on Lance and Keith. 

“You two!” he barked, pointing to the two.  
The two shared a look before smirking.  
“We’re out of here, y’all!” Lance said, throwing up his hand, “Peace!” 

With that, Keith grabbed Lance’s wrist and sprinted down the hall in the opposite way, leaving Arkon to chase after them, yelling for them to “freeze!”. From somewhere in the crowd someone called back “Everybody clap your hands!”  
And everybody clapped. 

(Including Shiro, though he’d deny it if asked next time he saw his favorite trouble makers) 


	7. Dorks on a Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith and Lance are the only ones present for today's ISS.  
> Lance has plans. Matt has a giant chocolate bar.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Valentine's day to all, and to all some good old Klance fluff (with a dash of Miro because I have no self control)
> 
> Enjoy today (or tomorrow when the candy goes on sale, I won't judge)!
> 
>  
> 
> And, ah, yeah. I made everyone wait because I wanted to do a Klance Valentines Date part.
> 
> (and hey shoutouts to Metalotaku for giving a bunch of neat and stupid ideas for these geeks to get into trouble by (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:・ﾟ✧ you're pretty rad!)

Let the record show that Shiro had no part in this.  
None. Zip. Zilch. Zero. Nada. Nashi. And any other way he couldn’t think of right now.

 

He’d left for five minutes. Five. Minutes. The first bell hadn’t even rung yet! He left the room to gather a few things from his car and what did he see when he came back?  
Lance and Henry rearranging the room, a large blanket thrown down on the floor, the larger boy arranging a few pillows while the lankier one was writing something up on the board.  
“What are you doing?”

“Lance’s idea!” Henry said, looking up, “I don’t even have ISS today!”  
“Yep, Hunk’s been a good noodle!” Lance said, smiling proudly to his friend before going back to the board. Shiro looked and saw what was going on: the copious amounts of hearts drawn, the two stick figures holding hands.  
_Are you from Mars? Because your body is out of this world!_

 

“I know today is Valentine’s day, but no Lance.”  
“Aww!” the Cuban boy pouted, “But I’ve got all this stuff planned! It’s going to be romantic!”  
“Do that after school.” Shiro insisted, crossing his arms as Matt walked up behind him. He looked around the older man, raising an eyebrow.  
“Looks fancy.” he hummed, stepping into the class. “Maybe try a different line, though.”  
“You think?” Lance looked back to the board, quickly erasing the pick up line and thought for a moment.  
“Don’t encourage him!”

“They’ve done far worse things in this class, Shiro.” Matt said, shrugging as he took his own seat, looking through his bag. “Let him and Keith have their little date. It’s just the two of them today.”  
“Little nothing!” the Cuban boy huffed, writing on the board once more. “Hey, how do you spell astronomer? N-O or N-A?”

“N-O.” Henry said, helpfully.  
“As in, _no Lance_.” Shiro gruffed before his eyes looked to the board as Lance finished writing another line.  
_Are you an astronomer? Because I see stars in your eyes._

 

Fuck. Okay, that one was kind of sweet.

 

Shiro opened his mouth, once again to tell the teen _no_ when the bell rang and Henry jumped, “Oh man, my class is up on the top floor.” he hurriedly looked through his bag, setting a couple boxes on the table, “Blue one is for you, red is Keith’s.” He then hurried over to Matt, handing him a box with a yellow ribbon on it, and gave Shiro one with a purple one. “Happy Valentine’s dudes!”  
“You’re the best, Hunk!” Lance said, hurrying towards his own bag and looked through, pulling out a clear plastic baggy, wrapped with a blue ribbon and brought it over to the desk, setting it next to Keith’s box.

 

By the time Lance had finished setting his bag (carefully, Shiro noticed, and what was that sticking out from the zippers?) next to the blanket, Keith walked in, looking down to his phone. “Hey.” he mumbled, sending a text only to have Lance’s phone chime loudly when it was received. The black haired boy looked up, eyes widening as he froze at the doorway, looking at everything. “Uh…”  
“Keith!” The taller boy practically danced over to his boyfriend, wrapping his arms around his waist. With a squeak from the older boy (who, no he is not going to admit it fuck you very much) he spun his boyfriend around before setting him back on his feet, kissing him. Keith looked every bit frazzled but there was a dopey smile underneath his red cheeks. “What do you think?” Lance waved his hand around, seeming to snap Keith back from wherever he’d been. The older boy looked around the room (Shiro saw him blush deeper when he read the whiteboard).

“How did you talk Shiro into letting you do this?”  
“He didn’t.” Shiro said, “Lance--”

“Oh, let them have their fun!” Matt said, pulling out …. something huge from his bag. “Come over here, Takashi! I bought this giant candy bar so we can share!”  
“Matt, how much did you pay for that?” Shiro momentarily forgot that he was supposed to be the adult and walked over to his friend.  
“Don’t try and tell me I’ll regret this. Pidge already tried that and I told her that any stomach aches are going to be future Matt’s problem. Now sit down and help me eat this!”

Behind Shiro’s back Lance gave Matt a thumbs up before dragging Keith over to the blanket and pulled him down to sit next to him. He then proceeded to sputter, scrambling as he crawled back over to the desk to grab the treats both he and Henry had placed there and brought them back.  
“Here, the box is from Hunk. He said he made all of us fudge!” he said, handing over to appropriate box, before holding out the baggy. “And, uh, these are from me. They’re Torticas de Moron!”  
“Bless you.” the dark haired boy teased, smiling before he blushed, looking down to his bag. “Uh,”

 

Lance smiled happily, “Hey, you don’t have to give me anything, okay? I just was kind of in a baking mood and--”  
“I did make you something.” Keith said, huffing as he opened up his bag. He blushed more, pulling out a Ziplock bag full of sugar cookies. Most of them looked like malformed hearts, others were broken malformed hearts. “Uh, they uh… were fine when I made them. But after I put them in the bag I accidentally dropped it. Ezor helped me get access to the Home Ec room, since she was making stuff for her friends and I wasn’t able to go back to make more so” Keith was cut off with a yelp when Lance launched himself forward, toppling both of them down onto the blanket, peppering his face with kisses.

 

By the time the second bell rang, Shiro had to nudge the two apart, telling them to get their work done.

 

 

Throughout the day that seemed to be the norm. The two boys cuddling together, happily eating and sharing their gifts while they worked, occasionally teasing each other and a brief competition to see who could finish a worksheet faster which resulted in Keith’s broken cookies getting crunched underneath him when Lance rolled on top of him, tickling him as his _prize for winning_.

 

About thirty minutes before lunch there was a knock at the door. Shiro looked up (he and Matt having managed to eat only a third of their giant candy bar so far) and called out for whoever it was to come inside. Katie opened the door wide, holding onto a couple tupperware boxes. “For the gross lovebirds!” she said, walking forward.  
“Don’t you have a class right now?” Matt asked, raising an eyebrow as he broke off another piece of chocolate and ate it.

“Lunch period.” she said, handing the boxes to Lance before she made her way to her brother and tore off a large chunk of chocolate, causing the older Holt to squak and tug the bar away from her. “I’m just dropping off what Hunk said Lance asked for.”

“I will not have nasty sandwiches with my boyfriend on Valentine’s!” the boy in question said, holding the boxes up proudly. “Today is a day of love! Even the food will be filled with it!”  
“Hunk made you that.” Katie said, jumping up onto one of the pushed aside desks, kicking her feet as she ate her stolen hunk of chocolate.

“Hunk’s food always is full of love.” Lance waved his hand towards the girl before holding the boxes away from Keith when he leaned forward. “Ah-bub bub bub! You gotta wait, babe.”  
“But it smells amazing.” Keith whined, pouting. “What is it?”

 

“Chicken something or other.” Katie said, licking at some chocolate residue in the corner of her mouth before swapping hands that was holding the hunk and licked at her fingers.  
“Tikka Masala.” Lance said, huffing. “Keep up Pidgette.”  
“Call me that again and I’ll stab you with a straw.” She shoved the rest of the chocolate into her mouth.

 

“Are you trying to wine and dine me?” the black haired boy asked, smirking as he settled back down, leaning his head against Lance’s shoulder.  
“Is it working?” the Cuban boy asked, wiggling his eyebrows.  
“Nope.” Lance gave an offended noise as Keith laughed and kissed his cheek.

“Fine. I’ll just eat this myself.” the taller boy shuffled the boxes to one side, causing Keith to reach for one of them. “You only want me for my connections to Hunk!”  
“You also have a nice body.” Keith said, grinning as Lance promptly picked up a pillow and smacked him with it, easily going down.

 

“Gross.” Katie said, smiling over to the two boys. She dug through her bag before tossing a couple small baggies of Skittles to the two. “Here. Happy Skittles Day!” she said before jumping off the desk. “I gotta head out or I’ll be late for my next class. See ya, nerds!”

 

 

By the time Shiro had lead their small group to the lunchroom, Lance had stopped by and grabbed a couple bottles of soda from the vending machine, only going through the lunch line to pick up some plastic forks. Now the two were cuddled up together happily eating and talking while Shiro and Matt did their usual lunch food exchange.  
“Should I be concerned that Lance brought his bag?” Shiro asked, poking at the piece of sponge cake that Matt had offered.  
“I’d be more concerned that, I believe, there is a guitar neck sticking out of it.” Matt said.

That’s what that thing was.  
“He’s not.” the older man’s eyes narrowed.  
“It’s Lance.”  
“He is.” Shiro closed his eyes, “Lance do not sing in the lunchroom.”

 

Lance raised his head, face scrunched up and eyes narrowed, “I’m not interrupting your date. Leave mine alone.” he said, waving his fingers in the two’s direction. Matt sputtered, covering his mouth as his drink tried to go down the wrong way.

In the end, though, Lance didn’t sing. He did, however, feed Keith and made sure every cute nickname he said was loud enough for the other two to hear.

 

 

Back in class, Shiro glared, feeling like he was calling out to a dog whenever Lance reached for his bag. He wasn’t about to let Lance start singing and playing guitar. He wasn’t. Absolutely not.

Matt sighed, his head on the desk and arms wrapped around his stomach. It seemed Future Matt had arrived, especially when he slowly nudged the half-eaten candy bar over to Shiro. “I want silence while I contemplate my life’s mistakes, please.” he grumbled, whining pathetically when Shiro offered a gentle pat on the back.

 

At this point, Keith had somehow managed to lay his head down in his boyfriend’s lap, Lance’s fingers gently combing through his hair, and he sighed in contentment. “So what’s the plan for after school?” he asked, not bothering to open his eyes.  
“That is a secret.” the Cuban boy said, “But I can promise you that you’ll love it.”

“Can we just hang out in one of our rooms and watch Netflix?” the pale boy slowly opened his eyes, “That’d be nice.”  
“We can do that after.” Lance leaned his head down, Keith meeting him halfway in a kiss, “Let me finish my Most Amazing Date with you.”  
“It’s going to be dinner and a movie, isn’t it?” Keith teased, smirking as Lance coughed awkwardly and looked away. “It better be a good movie.”

“I was planning on us watching The Last Key.” the taller boy said, watching as his boyfriend hummed before closing his eyes.  
“I’ll accept it.”  
“I’m glad it meets your standards.” Lance teased, “Now are you going to help me with this english bullshit?” He moved, waving a book around. “I hate this book and all that it stands for.”

 

Keith caught the name and scrunched up his nose. “Oh, gross.” he grumbled, “I’m using SparkNotes to get by in that thing, sorry Lance.”  
In disgust, Lance tossed the book down. “Let me know what you find.” He dug through his bag, pulling out his DS and popped it open. “I have Pokemon to catch. Bubbles and I are about to take on the first Kahuna.”  
“I still can’t believe you named your Popplio Bubbles.” Keith teased, hearing Lance scoff.  
“You named your Litten Furbag. I don’t want to hear a thing out of you, Seong.”

 

 

As the clock ticked down to the final bell, Lance had finally managed to get his guitar out of his bag, revealing that he really didn’t have much inside it to begin with, and was carefully tuning it. Shiro frowned, “Lance I told you no singing.”  
“You control me until that last bell!” Lance said, giving a pointed glare to the clock and Shiro saw that there was only twenty seconds left.  
Well crap.

With a groan, Shiro closed his eyes and once the final bell rang, Lance had finished tuning and was strumming a few notes and began to sing. Yeah. It was slightly off key, his voice shaking in the beginning, but the whole day Shiro had been expecting some pop song that would have him ripping out his hair.  
“ _Solamente una vez, amé en la vida. Solamente una vez, y nada más._ ”

 

And Keith? If he hadn’t been before he was smitten now, eyes wide with awe and affection as Lance crooned in a soft accent. “ _Una vez nada más en mi huerto brilló la esperanza. La esperanza que alumbra el camino de mi soledad_.”

 

Shiro somehow ended up with the rest of the giant chocolate bar, mainly because Matt threw up shortly after Lance and Keith left the classroom. Katie seemed to have expected it and came into the room with a bottle of Pepto and a face that said “I told you so”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Keith and Ezor are best friends. They get together and talk about their crushes and have sleepovers and shit and it's pure and wholesome and you can't tell me otherwise.
> 
>  
> 
> Just for the curious:
> 
> The song Lance sings is Solamente Una Vez (personally I love the Marty Robbins version and that's the one I had in mind when making him sing it, but it's a good song regardless of the singer)
> 
>  
> 
> Lowkey, the book they're talking about is Beloved by Toni Morrison. Nothing against the author but my god I hated that book so much when I had to read it. Feel free to put your own hated book from class, though!


	8. What Rolls Down Stairs (alone or in pairs)?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group are at it again.  
> What's in the boxes, Pidge???

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yoo this took a while, sorry.  
> I've been slowly working on the ISS portion of this series, but since that's taking so long I figured I'd just post this so at least you all can enjoy it.
> 
> Again, super thanks for the idea, MetalOktaku! (I actually can't believe I never thought of this omg)
> 
>  
> 
> (did I name this chapter after the Log Song? Uh... yes I did.)

“This is the stupidest thing we’ve ever done.” Keith muttered, stopping to adjust the two closed boxes he was carrying.

“Stupid, yes.” Pidge hummed, carrying a, much smaller, box as she bounced up the steps two at a time. “Shake a leg, Keith!” she called back, stopping as she looked towards her friends. Hunk was carrying three boxes and Lance was also carrying two. “The student body is already waking up and we won’t have a lot of time to get this to look amazing.”

 

“Why are we doing this again?” Hunk asked, adjusting his boxes before reaching out a hand to balance Lance when he started to lean back too far. “I mean, this isn’t like Zarkon’s car…”  
“Zarkon was a dick,” Pidge said, narrowing her eyes, “seriously I was not going to stand by when he was yelling at Tim.”  
“Because you liiike him,” Lance teased, cackling as the group walked up the stairs, nearly falling again when the short girl turned and promptly kicked his shin. “Ouch! Watch it!” He turned towards his boyfriend. “Keith! Get the salt! We gotta take care of the tiny demon!”

“There’s already enough salt in Pidge that if she was a demon, she’d’ve exorcised herself.” Keith’s shin was her next target.

“We’re doing this,” Pidge continued, ignoring Lance’s dramatic sounds, “because we need to be prepared for Senior Prank Day.”  
“We’re not seniors, though.” Keith pointed out, huffing as he stopped again, whining as he tried to adjust the boxes so his arms would stop straining. “How many are in these boxes?”

 

“Enough.” she said, shrugging as they began to walk once more. “And this is just so we’re prepared. We’re already known to be pranksters in this school. We can’t let them think we’ll do something this trivial when our time to shine comes!” She began to beam as she once more took the steps two at a time. “Now move it! Chop chop! Ándele!”

“Hey,” Hunk spoke up, “what do you guys think of first when you hear ándele?” He glanced over to his friends who gave him a strange look, before Pidge answered first.

“Speedy Gonzales.” she said simply. “I grew up watching some of his old cartoons. Hell, when I was younger and me and Matt would play I’d even yell out _arriba arriba ándele_ ” when he’d chase me.”

“I can picture a tiny Pidge,” Lance said, grinning, “Hair tied up in pigtails and shouting in Spanish.”  
“My hair was actually kept short a lot,” she said, “that and I was banned from gum until I was thirteen. Then there was that time on Picture Day where I did have pigtails but wanted them shorter so I chopped one off.” Lance began howling and the group had to stop and recover before they all fell down the stairs.

 

“I honestly get E.I. stuck in my head.” Lance said once he caught his breath. When Keith raised his eyebrow he grinned, “You know, _ándele ándele momma E.I. E.I. uh oh _.”  
“Oh god, I forgot about that song.” his boyfriend groaned, grinning as the two began an impromptu karaoke session, easily dragging in the other two teens. Somehow, once they reached the top of the stairs, this prompted Hunk to take out his phone and looking through his music, letting out a triumphant sound before the familiar synth began to start up.__

___At that the group began to crack up, beginning to work on getting the boxes opened. By now the school had started to fill up and everyone was watching the small group of friends curiously._  
“Hey, you ever look back on these songs and realize you probably shouldn’t have been listening to them when you were younger?” Hunk asked, pulling up the lyrics to said song. “I mean, _if the head right, Nelly there errynight_.”  
“Or how about that Usher song that talks about not stopping until getting her in her birthday suit.” Pidge added, before Keith’s eyes widened and he stopped opening boxes.  
“I just remembered I always thought it was weird they were singing about farming and milking cows.” Lance snorted, coming over to gently pat his boyfriend’s head.  
“You’re precious and I love you.” he murmured, before he was shoved back, Keith muttering at him to shut up while trying to hide both how red his face was and the big, dumb smile he had. 

__Before the first hook could hit, Pidge gave a signal and everyone began to tip out their boxes._ _

__

__Thousands was apparently “enough” in Pidge Language. At least that’s what it looked like when the bouncy balls the group had carried up the stairs were released and now were now bouncing down the steps, off the walls, off other students who yelped and laughed and ran to get out of the way._ _

__

__By the time Zarkon threw open his office door everyone was picking up the bouncy balls and throwing them back up at the four teens who were too busy dancing and singing, though Lance and Keith were taking the time to reach down and throw them back at their assailants.  
If that hadn’t been enough to get them in trouble, then the group loudly proclaiming “Should we apologize? Nah, fuck ‘em just leave ‘em pissed!”_ _

__

__(Shiro was not amused to say the least when he read over their reason for being with him again. Matt was laughing loudly and high fiving his sister and not being professional _at all_ )_ _


	9. Pet Names, Rumors and Riots

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The rumor mill is running as we look into another exciting day in Shiro's ISS class.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took so long to write out I'm sorry guys.

Shiro looked around the room, and frowned when neither Lance or Katie were in the classroom. It was two minutes to bell, and he knew Lance always arrived about ten seconds before it rang, bringing in coffee for everyone. Katie, on the other hand, was an oddity. He looked over to Matt, who was reading, “Hey, is Katie sick?” he finally asked, pulling the other man’s had up.

“Huh?” Matt looked around, “Where’s Pidge?”  
“She was with me earlier,” Keith said, not looking up from his phone, “said she had to run to her locker for something.” he smiled, carefully typing out something. He frowned a bit when Henry began to look, nosily, over his shoulder but didn’t seem to bother trying to hide the conversation.

“Lance calls you _Honey Bun_?” he asked, curiously.  
“Among other things.” Keith muttered, typing up something else that made the larger boy snort.  
“ _Sugar Darlin?_ Keith, are you for real?”  
“Like a heart attack.”  
“You’re bullshitting me.”  
“If I was bullshitting you I’d have called him Chippendale or Cuddle Cakes.”

Henry busted out laughing, and continued to laugh as Lance walked in, smiling brightly. “Boo Bear!” he called out happily, walking over and handing him his caffeine first along with a loud, popping kiss on the cheek. “Tiny Tina!” He picked up another cup and looked around. “Uh, where’s Pidge?”  
“Not here.” Henry said, watching as Lance pouted and, instead, gave him his drink before walking to the two older men.

“You mean my gross, sappy, overly lovey-dovey declaration to Keith was pointless?” he whined, handing both Shiro and Matt their coffees.  
“I enjoyed it.” Keith piped up, relaxing in his chair as he took a sip. “Feel free to keep being gross and disgusting, even if Pidge isn’t around to pretend she’s grossed out by it.”  
“For my sanity, please don’t.” Shiro said, standing up as the bell rang. “To your seat, Lance. And thank you.”

“No prob, Bob.” Lance grinned, taking his own cup and walked back over to his desk, stopping to make sure Katie’s coffee was at her seat before he sat down.

 

As Shiro was passing out their assignments the door burst open and Katie ran in, slamming her hands on Keith’s desk. “You! You’re buddy-buddy with one of Lotor’s friends, right?” she all but shouted in the poor boy’s face.  
“Uh,” the black haired boy looked up to her, eyes wide, “Ezor? Yeah… why?”

“You need to text her right the fuck now and tell me if what I overheard from Beezer is true or not!”  
“What did you over hear from him?” Lance asked, “Also, sit down your coffee’s getting cold.”  
“Oh, thanks.” the shortest of the group went to her desk and picked up her coffee, taking a long drink from it. “Lotor’s dating Allura.”  
Poor Henry was the one who was caught mid-swallow and, therefore, began to choke, spewing his mocha on the desk and, unfortunately, all over Keith who had sat closer to Lance that day.  
“Come a-fucking-gain?” Lance asked, eyes wide as he grabbed a towel from his bag and began to help dry off his boyfriend, who seemed torn between shock at Katie’s words and annoyed at have coffee spat on him. Henry, at least, was also trying to help dry him off, muttering out apologies.

 

“Beezer said that Rolo saw the two of them last Friday and they were definitely holding hands and they definitely kissed each other before they left.”  
“Rolo is stoned like ninety-five percent of the time.” Keith said, groaning a bit as he tugged at his shirt, pointing to his bag and Lance quickly opened it, grabbing a hoodie from it for Keith to wear. “You seriously can’t trust him. One time he swore he saw panthers in the school hallway.”  
“If I remember right, so did you.” Lance said, earning the dirtied shirt that was thrown at him as Keith tugged the hoodie on, adjusting it. “Hey, I was wondering where my sweater had gone.”  
“You left it in my dorm. I was gonna give it back today.”

 

“Guys. Allura. Lotor. Kissing. Dating.” Katie said, slapping her palm against her desk to emphasise each word. “Keith. Text Ezor and find out if it’s true or not!”  
“Alright, alright.” Keith rolled his eyes, picking up his phone. “Chill.”

Katie hovered over Keith’s shoulder, watching him as he typed in his phone, sending out a series of texts.

 

**To Ezor**

**hey bitch**   
**real quick**   
**is lotor n allura a thing???**

 

“You have a way with words.” Katie muttered, and Keith scoffed.  
“Next time I’ll make you ask her then.” he glared up to her, setting his phone down on his desk as Shiro cleared his throat.

“Can we get back to doing actual work now?” he asked, holding up the small stack of paper in his hand. “Katie, please go to your seat.”  
With a roll of her eyes she went back and sat down and Shiro proceeded to pass out their work for class.

 

 

Shiro would have had to have been absolutely _blind_ to not see the look Keith was shooting Lance. It was a trademark _are you serious?_ look that the other boy gave whenever Lance was going to do something dumb.  
At least when he was going to do something dumb that Keith couldn’t participate in. Like the Little Debbies incident.

Lance, however, either ignored the look or didn’t care. He turned in his chair, “Hey Hunk, you still got that other soda bottle?” he asked, “I’m not feeling so hot.”  
“Yeah.” Henry reached into his back, and Shiro saw Keith roll his eyes before lowering his head. If he thought he was being subtle, Keith wasn’t.

 

The only question was, what was Lance doing? He turned to look at Matt, to ask him if he was seeing the same thing, but Matt’s nose seemed to be buried in whatever book he was reading.  
Oh. Hey, Shiro knows that series. Wait, is that the new volume? Maybe he can ask Matt if he could borrow it--

 

The most ugly sound in the universe soon jerked both him and Matt to attention. There was something gross and brown and chunky and green and disgusting on Lance’s desk while he covered his mouth, shoulders hunched. Matt was instantly paling as he covered his own mouth.

 

Oh. That’s what he was planning. He sighed, “Lance.” he muttered, thoroughly not impressed.  
However the sound was echoed beside him as Matt seemed to gag, swallowing thickly.  
“Yuh-you… nurse? Pass?”

 

“Lance, clean that up and stop goofing off.” The older man said, seeing Lance’s shoulders shaking. The boy soon was unable to keep his laughter down as he broke out, his feet stomping on the ground. However it was a short lived fit when Matt, who seemed to have not realized the ruse was grasping for the trashcan and vomiting for real inside it.

“Uh…. oops.”  
Shiro groaned, rubbing at his temples as Lance stood up and walked over to Matt, rubbing at his back and apologizing, going as far as to offer to buy him a bottle of Sprite to him to help settle his stomach. Keith took his pen and poked at the fake puke, his nose scrunching up slightly.  
“I can’t believe you helped him make this.” he said, looking back to Henry who shrugged.  
“It’s not the weirdest thing we’ve made.”

 

 

Katie was sitting on her desk, staring down Keith who was doing his best to ignore her, writing out his classwork (apparently an essay that Keith greatly bemoaned). His brow was furrowed and, finally, he slammed his pen down and looked over to her. “What? You’re staring at me like a fucking owl. Blink or something!”

“Did Ezor text you back?” she said, instead of apologizing.  
“Seriously?” the black haired boy groaned, grabbing his phone and flipped the screen to show Katie the conversation with Ezor. “She actually doesn’t check her phone until lunch. When she’s in class she practically ignores the thing unless it’s her one of her dads calling.”  
“Hey, you two have that in common! Two dads!” Lance said, excitedly. “Is that what you two bonded over?”  
“That and being hopelessly gay for pretty people.” Keith said, smiling at the way Lance’s face bloomed red. Katie stuck out her tongue as she began to scroll up through the conversation.

 

“She sends you selfies for clothing advice?” she asked, incredulously. “You? Seriously?”  
“That’s an insult, fuck you.” the older boy huffed, getting back to work on his essay.  
“ _This girl is 2 pretty and im 2 gay keif plz end me!!!!_ ” Katie read, looking at the attached image of the girl Ezor was fawning over. “Damn, her eyeliner is on point. How are her wings so fucking good? Everytime I try I end up looking like a panda!” Keith shrugged.  
“ _Ez just talk 2 her_ ,” the girl continued to read, “ _Liek u did 2 lance? lol id rather swallow soysauce and vinager_ ” She shook her head. “This girl has it bad.”

“I’m like eighty-nine percent sure the girl she likes feels the same about her.” Keith muttered, scrunching up his face as he read over his essay. At least, until Lance looked over without Keith noticing. The boy stared for a moment before he gasped, quickly grabbing the notebook he’d been writing in. Keith let out a squawk and grasped for it, his face turning a vibrant red. “Hey!”  
“Are you seriously writing a Captain America-Black Widow fanfic?” the tan boy asked, grinning as he read over the page.  
“Give that back!” Keith stood up and Lance danced, keeping it out of his reach.  
“ _Steve brushed his fingers against her cheek, their lips moving in sync with one another. He could feel Nat’s body press closer to his own, her fingers crawling into his hair, gently scratching at his scalp before tugging, the feeling going straight to his groin._ ” he read out loud, causing Keith’s ears to all but glow. “Babe, this is actually really well written.”  
“Please shut up and give that back.” his boyfriend whined, finally able to get the paper from Lance.

“Wait, you ship them?” Henry looked over, “Isn’t Natasha and Bruce basically a couple?”  
“That plotline felt stupid and forced in Ultron.” Keith said, pouting. “Like in the first Avengers she was terrified of Hulk, but the second one they’re… pining? Her and Rogers in Winter Soldier was way more natural looking.”  
“I thought her and Bruce were cute though.” the larger boy blushed, looking down and fidgeting with his fingers.

 

“Okay, Keith’s hobbies aside,” Katie broke up the conversation, handing Keith back his phone, “shouldn’t you be writing that essay?”  
“I was. But then I.. wasn’t.” the black haired boy looked down to the story in his hands. “You try writing a three page essay on the fucking biological process of plants.”  
“Gross. Pass.” she sighed and sat back down on her desk. “Go back to writing your Cap Widow porn.”

“Keith, please do your work before you write your Cap Widow porn.” Shiro spoke, exhausted as he didn’t bother to look up from his Sudoku booklet. He didn’t miss the groan or the sharp _thunk_ as Keith’s head hit his desk.

 

 

“Shiro!” Lance looked over to the table where the man in question and Matt were sitting, in the middle of their ritual of trading foods. “Can we skip the rest of the day?”  
“You did not just ask me that.” the older man gave Lance a flat look, passing the tupperware full of chicken salad to Matt, who in turn slid him something that smelled like meatloaf. “No, you can not skip the rest of the day.”

 

“But it’s such a beautiful day outside!” the tan boy waved his hand towards one of the windows closest to him, showcasing the outside world. Blue sky. Green grass. “We are wasting the days of our youth in here! We should be out enjoying ourselves before adulthood arrives and we become nothing more than zombies to our jobs!”  
“You’re not skipping. Being an adult means knowing that sometimes you can’t get your way all the time.”  
“I’m not asking all the time. I’m asking now.” Lance picked up one of the halves of his sandwich, biting into it.

“I told you he’d say no.” Katie spoke around her daily dose of pickles, swallowing after she chewed them a bit more. “Shiro’s no fun.”  
“No-fun Shiro.” Keith said, huffing as he finished de-cheesing his own sandwich before tearing off a piece and eating it.  
“No-fun Shiro.” Henry repeated. Soon the whole table was chanting it.

The older man frowned, eyes narrowed, “Knock it off you guys.” he said. “You will not be starting a riot in the lunchroom.”  
“Riot!” Katie yelled, banging her fists onto the table, the others following suit. As the chant changed from “No-fun Shiro” to “Riot”. Shiro groaned, rubbing his forehead as he opened his mouth to try and quell the children, before he heard the chant echoed next to him. He looked over, utterly betrayed as Matt was chanting “Riot” with the children.  
“Matt!”

 

The older Holt jumped, blushing as he laughed. “Sorry. I got caught up in the moment. I always wanted to be a part of a riot.”  
“You’re not going to be a part of a riot because there will be no riot!”

 

“No-fun Shiro” was quickly swapped back into the chant for the rest of the lunch period.

 

 

At some point while the children chatted, laughed and, in the case of Lance and Keith, cuddled together while they worked there was a shrill sound that made them all jump.  
“Uh, is that the fire alarm?” Henry asked, his voice laced with worry.

“Alright, you guys.” Shiro said, frowning as well as he stood up. “You know how it goes.” He eyed the group as they scrambled to get to their feet, Keith doubling back to grab his notebook and phone from his desk, shoving the latter into the pocket of his hoodie before he caught back up to Lance who had grabbed both his and Keith’s bags. They made their way outside, the rest of the students all filtering out as well, everyone talking to each other loudly, wondering if it was a real fire or not. And the group of troublemakers was no exception, Keith seeing Rolo and raising his voice.

 

“Rolo! The fuck happened?” the blond boy looked over, shrugging as he yelled back, walking over.  
“Beats me! I was in the bathroom!”  
“You fucking stoner…” Keith muttered under his breath, “I bet you set off the alarm.”  
“Did not! I went into the one on the third floor that has the busted window.” Rolo had the gall to look proud. He looked over his shoulder, seeing Nyma waving at him to get his attention. “Talk later.” he hurried off and Keith rolled his eyes.  
“I don’t know why I thought he’d know anything.”  
“Because it’s Rolo and for every instance of insane stoner logic he sometimes says something smart about five percent of the time?” Katie offered. “I mean, he does still pass his classes despite being high as a kite.”

 

“Keifers!” Everyone turned and soon Keith was thrown off balance, falling backwards as a girl launched herself at him, her hair dyed hot pink and braided into a high ponytail. “Oh my god! Biology is so boring without you next to me!” she cried, before sniffing and looked down at him. “Are you wearing Axe? Is that _Phoenix_?”

“It’s Lance’s hoodie. Phoenix actually smells amazing. Get off me, Ez.” he said, shoving at her shoulders. “Your fat ass is going to crush my back.” He yelped, laughing as Ezor began to hit him. She got off him after a while, grabbing onto his arms and yanked him up effortlessly.

“Holy shit, how strong are you?” Lance asked, walking over and began to poke at her arms. Ezor smirked, flexing her arms.  
“Tennis club.” she said, winking at him.  
“She only joined because she loves Prince of Tennis.” Keith stage whispered, leaning closer to Lance, laughing again when she went to swat at him.  
“You did too, hush or I’ll spill all your anime crushes.” she said, eyes narrowed.

 

“Spill, please.” Katie said, her eyes seemingly glowing. Soon, however, she gasped. “Oh, wait! Ezor! You got Keith’s text right?”  
“Huh?” She looked over to the shorter girl before reaching into her back pocket, taking out her phone. “Oh, shit you did text. Sorry.” she laughed, reading over the message.

 

“Allura and Lotor huh?” she hummed, tapping a corner of her phone to her chin, the long chain of charms clinking together with the movement. “I haven’t seen Lotor all day.” She looked back down to her phone, “Let me get the others over here, one sec.”

 

It wasn’t that much longer after she said that when three other girls soon made their way into the group of children. “Okay guys. Did Lotor say anything about dating Allura?”  
“Allura? As in the one he won’t stop staring at during computer?” the largest girl asked. “I haven’t heard anything. Hell, he won’t even admit he likes her.”  
“I have Allura for AP Lit,” another girl said, her black hair pulled back into a short ponytail. “I don’t really talk to her that much, though, so I don’t have a clue, either.”  
The third only shrugged, shaking her head.

“Sorry, Keifers.” Ezor turned to look back at her friend. “Why are you asking?”  
“Beezer said that Rolo saw them kissing.” Katie cut in.  
“Shut up! For realsies?” the pink haired girl gasped, grinning widely. “Oh my god!”  
“Lotor did seem to have a little spring in his step today.” the larger girl said, “I just thought he just excited because we had a free period for that hour.” she paused for a moment. “He was on his phone an awful lot.”  
“Narti, you have Allura that same hour right?” the girl nodded, and the black haired girl continued, “Was Allura on her phone at all?”

Narti scrunched up her face in thought, lips pursed before she nodded. Ezor squealed again.  
“Oh my god! It’s like Romeo and Juliet! Only, you know, without the whole killing ourselves thing at the end. And they’re both more reasonable teenagers.”  
“So, not really like Romeo and Juliet.” Keith said, crossing his arms, smirking as his friend stuck out her tongue at him.  
“Hush, you. It was the first one I thought of.”

 

“I personally prefer Gomez and Morticia.” Lance said, “That’s a fucking romance.” he wrapped his arm around Keith’s shoulders, grinning.  
“Lance, what-” the shorter boy was cut off with a yelp when his boyfriend effortlessly dipped him, his hands instantly latching onto the taller boy’s shoulders.  
“Cara mia!” he smiled, waggling his eyebrows. Keith giggled.

“Mon cher.” he said, and Katie gagged.  
“Get out of here with your gross love.” she said.  
“You wouldn’t call it gross if it was Tim.” Lance teased, laughing as Katie began to kick at his shins. “Watch it, you’ll make me drop my Lemon Bug.”

 

“Lance you can’t call Keith names that are just two words pushed together.” Henry said, shaking his head.  
“Yes he can, shut up.” Keith said, pouting as Lance pulled him back upright as Katie quietly mouthed _Lemon Bug?_ to herself before adding on a _what the fuck?_

 

Shiro sighed, looking to the group as they talked, a cheerful voice coming from behind him, thick with accent.  
“Ah, that’s where the girls ran off to!” he turned around and came face to face with a nearly comically bright orange mustache. “Good to know they didn’t wander far.”  
“Oh, uh, Mr. Smythe!” Matt said, smiling. “You wouldn’t happen to know what’s going on with the fire alarms, would you?”  
“Afraid not.” Mr. Smythe shook his head. “And I’ve told you before, just call me Coran.” he raised his hand, fussing with the edge of his moustache. Shiro looked back over to his group when he heard a squeal, Keith was laughing as the largest girl had picked both him and Lance up and was carrying them effortlessly on her shoulders. He caught what sounded like “let’s make a human pyramid!” from Ezor and felt a sudden urge to tell them to stop, until Coran laughed goodnaturedly.  
“Ah, youth. I remember being that young and spry. Still am pretty spry, of course. But in my day my friends and I were…” he began to go to length of a story involving him and his friends hiking through the woods and coming across a _Kumi Lizard_. Whatever that was. He was continuing his story, detailing how he and his friends fought off the great beast before Shiro’s eye caught a familiar face. 

He turned his head, seeing Allura looking down at her phone, smiling to herself. Soon a boy walked up behind her, his own hair pulled into a lazy braid over his shoulder. He reached out his hands, covering her eyes, making her jump and laugh more before turning to face him. They spoke to one another, both of their faces flushed red as the shuffled on their feet, looking both at one another and then away. Allura then leaned up and kissed his cheek, saying something to him, which made the boy nod and offer out his arm to her. She laughed, sliding her arm around his and the two walked off, disappearing into the crowd once more and, seemingly, away from the school.

Shiro looked back over to his class, sighing when he saw both the large girl, who Ezor had shouted out a “Hold still, Zeth! We almost got Pidge up at the top!”, and Henry both balancing and bracing the others, Keith and Lance on either of their shoulders as the held their arms up to balance Ezor and the other girl, who were holding onto a wobbling Narti as Katie slowly climbed onto her shoulders, quietly apologizing about the foot that just went into her chest.

 

With Katie perched proudly on top, the group whooped and hollered, drawing attention to other students who all laughed and cheered for them. Katie raised her hands into the air.  
“Yes! Bow before me, puny mortals!”  
“Why do they have to bow to you?” Lance shouted up at her.  
“Silence! I am ruler of all that I see!”

“Yeah, okay Yertle.” Keith muttered, rolling his eyes.

 

“Guys, you are going to break your limbs.” Shiro said, frowning at the group. “My car isn’t big enough to haul all of you to the hospital.”  
“Fool, I am the great Queen Pidge!” Katie said, “I am invincible!”  
“Just get down from there. _Carefully_ , for my sake.”

 

“No-fun Shiro!” made a comeback as the group slowly disassembled their pyramid.

 

At some point it became obvious that someone had just pulled the fire alarm, no one seemed to know who it was, though.  
Lance groaned, pulling out his phone to check to the time. “Screw this,” he said, looking over to Keith. “Wanna go watch Infinity War? We can make the next showing if we leave now.”  
“Oh! I wanna go!” Ezor said, excitedly. “I’ve already seen it, but I’m so down for watching it again!”  
“Sure. Who else is down?”

“Count me in.” Katie said, bouncing on the balls of her feet. “I’m always down for superhero movies!”  
“You hate superhero movies, though.” Keith said, raising an eyebrow as Henry piped up that he was willing to join, too, followed by the rest of the girls that Ezor had invited over.  
“But it will get me out of this hellhole, so I’ll suffer. Plus the Guardians are supposed to be in it, right? I liked those movies.” the shortest of the group stretched her arms up in the air. “I need to see Rocket!”

 

“Alright, I’m only paying for Keith’s ticket, though!” Lance said, “Everyone’s gonna have to pay for their own, plus snacks.”  
“We can hit the gas station on the way,” Ezor said, smirking. “It’ll be cheaper to get our snacks there and just pay for the tickets.”  
“I always feel bad for sneaking in snacks, though.” Henry said, “But I’m okay with saving a few extra bucks.”

 

Shiro stared at the group, watching as they made their way away, not even trying to hide that they were leaving campus.  
Shiro knew that, as a responsible adult and teacher’s assistant he had to stop them. Tell them no, get back here school hasn’t let out, yet.  
But even as Vice Principal Arkon announced to everyone to return to their classrooms, Shiro only, instead turned to Matt.  
“Wanna go see a movie?” Matt looked over at him.  
“Uh. Now?”  
“We might as well keep an eye on the class.” He motioned to the group of teens who were making their way down the sidewalk. “That, and I want to take you out on a date.”

Matt choked, his face bright red, but he nodded nonetheless and followed Shiro to the parking lot.


	10. Cafe Dates, Mondegreen and Delinquents

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Matt and Shiro are on a cute cafe date. Of course their children show up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm still (so slowly) working on the actual in-school part of this but figured I'd get this one posted before I forgot. Enjoy a cute Shatt date!

Matt smiled over the table to Shiro, his head propped up by his hands. “This is nice.” he said. “Way better than our last date.”  
“We still, technically, had to watch the kids.” Shiro said, shrugging. “But yeah. You’re right, this is much better than a theater full of teenagers shouting and bawling at the screen.”  
“It was very traumatic!” the younger man said, pouting as he felt his cheeks burn. “You even cried!”

“Never said I didn’t.” the black haired man smiled fondly, laughing as his boyfriend picked up one of the french fries off his plate and tossed it at him. “Watch it.”  
“Don’t be mean, Takashi.” Matt huffed, watching the older man pick up the thrown fry and eat it.

 

The cafe was fairly crowded for a Saturday afternoon, the other tables adding to the dull musical of chatter, silverware scraping plates and laughter. The wait staff bustled around, their inquiries adding to the melody, underneath it all was the soft sound of the radio playing across the speakers, whatever station playing drowned down to a soft whisper.

Shiro picked up half of his BLT that he’d ordered, looking over to Matt as he began to ask him a question. About going down to the park later to walk off their lunch. He heard a group walk close, following a bubbly waitress who had also seated Shiro and Matt, but was easily ignoring them as they talked and laughed, asking for their drinks before they began to chat just behind them.

 

It was easy to ignore them until a very familiar gasp sounded. “Oh, my god!” Turning in his seat, Shiro held back a groan as Pidge pointed at him, Hunk, Lance and Keith also staring at him and Matt like they were exotic animals at the zoo. “Oh my god!” she repeated.

 

“Hello, Katie.” Shiro said, flatly. “Fancy meeting you here.” he smiled as Pidge sputtered.  
“What are you doing here?” she asked, narrowing her eyes.

 

“I don’t sleep and live at school.” the teacher’s assistant said, raising an eyebrow.  
“Thank god for that.” Matt said, “It’d be awkward going back to your place.” he smirked at the blush blossoming across the older man’s face and laughed when his sister gagged.

“Gross. You’re gross! I’m disowning you!” she said, crossing her arms.  
“To actually answer your question,” Shiro said, leaning back so he could look at the group of teens, “Matt and I are on a date.”

“Ah, love.” Lance said, wrapping his arm around Keith’s shoulders. “Babe, we’re overdue for a date.”  
“We can do something tomorrow?” the dark haired boy said, easily leaning into his boyfriend. “I don’t really do anything on Sundays.”  
“I’ll have to check at home, but I don’t think it’s my turn to help clean the house.”

 

“It’s still kind of weird,” Hunk said, smiling brightly. “I mean, how often do we ever see our teachers outside of school?”  
“I saw Ms. Luxia once.” Lance said, “I was at the pet store and saw was buying this huge bag of dog food. It was surreal.” He looked up, smiling brightly as their waitress came back, setting down their drinks in front of them before asking for their orders.

A minute later they were back into conversation. “Her dog’s name is Baku. He’s adorable.”  
“Did she have her dog with her?” Hunk asked, cooing when Lance nodded.  
“He’s huge! Pyrenees!”

 

“I want a pyrenees.” Keith pouted. “But dad’s allergic so pops said we can’t have any pets.”  
“You could get a lizard.” Pidge offered. “Or a turtle.”  
“Turtles aren’t fluffy though.” the dark haired boy whined. “Maybe I can talk them into letting me get a snake?”

“You don’t want a turtle but you’ll take a snake?” Hunk asked, eyes widening before he snapped his head over to Lance and pointed at him. “Not a word!”  
“What?” Lance fluttered his eyes, placing a hand on his chest and had the gall to look offended.

 

 

 

The groups fell into an easy conversation, laughing and joking with one another even when their food arrived and was placed down in front of them and Shiro and Matt had turned back to themselves to carry on their own conversation.

“What did you say?” Keith looked up, startled by the sudden hard look his boyfriend was giving him. A look around the table of the cafe showed that Hunk and Pidge also had looked over at him, Shiro and Matt too distracted with making gooey eyes at one another.  
“I just have that Train song stuck in my head.” he said, looking back over to his boyfriend. “It’s nothing, really.”

“No no.” Lance pointed a finger accusingly, “What did you _say_?”

 

Keith scrunched up his face. “I… said _can you imagine your love like deep fried chicken_?”

 

There was silence and Pidge gave a quiet snort.  
“Keith, babe. Sweetie. Pumpkin tart.” Lance moved his hands, cupping the side of the dark haired boy’s face. “Those aren’t the words.”

“What? Yes they are!” Keith said, pouting. “He says it!”  
“No he doesn’t.”  
“He clearly says it, Lance!” He looked over to Pidge, who was already pulling out her phone. One quick look at the lyrics however. “Those are wrong.”

 

“He says _can you imagine no love, pride, deep fried chicken_.” Lance said, his own phone out, Drops of Jupiter playing and finally pulling Shiro and Matt’s attention from one another.

 

When came time of the lyrics in question Keith pointed at the phone. “See? He says it!”  
“No. Keith, you’re the most important person in the world to me, but he is not singing about a love like deep fried chicken.”  
“He is!”

“What’s going on?” Matt asked, confused.  
“Keith misheard lyrics and Lance is trying to correct him.” Pidge said, taking a loud sip from her peanut butter milkshake.

 

“Keith the lyrics are _no love, pride, deep fried chicken_.” Lance continued, only to have Keith pout more.  
“Then he should sing them right! He’s clearly singing _love like deep fried chicken_!”

“Keith, what the actual fuck would a love like deep fried chicken even be?” the Cuban boy finally asked, setting his phone down.  
“I don’t know! I’m not the one who wrote the song!” the pale boy threw his hands into the air.

“Keep your voices down, please.” Shiro said, huffing.  
“Why are you two even still here?” Pidge looked over at the two. “I mean, Matt’s a loser but I would have thought you’d have better things to do than hang out with us, Shiro.”

“Not my fault you guys showed up at the same place of our date.” the older man said, shrugging.  
“Can you at least not act like our teacher than?” she said.

“Can you guys not be thrown into ISS?” Shiro raised an eyebrow, frowning as Pidge retaliated by slurping her milkshake once more. “What did you do this time?”

 

“Snitches get stitches.” she said, staring him down before turning back to the table. “Keith I hate to say it, but Lance is right. You’ve been singing this song wrong.”

“No!” Keith crossed his arms, slouching down in his seat. He looked away, grumbling as Lance wrapped his arm around his shoulders.  
“You’re still my little love muffin.” the Cuban boy said, leaning to kiss his cheek, but gave a whine when Keith raised his hand to push his head back.  
“Denied.”

 

Shiro sighed, shaking his head as he waved their waitress over for the check, blocking out the sounds of Lance’s whining and quiet utterances of pet names and declarations of love. By the time he and Matt had stood up to leave the cafe, Keith had allowed him back over and was wrapped up in his arms as the group picked up a new conversation about how one of Lance’s siblings once ate a box of dog cookies while stressed, not realizing they were for dogs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Keith's mishearing of Train lyrics is absolutely based on myself and my sister because I don't care what anyone says, he is singing "love like deep fried chicken".


	11. In a Different Reality

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Something strange is going on with Shiro's favorite class or troublemakers...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So wow it's been ... a month since I've done literally anything? I recently got a new job so actually making money has kind of eaten up most of my writing time.  
> The other bits were eaten up by writer's block, but I managed!

The day started off normal enough: Keith entered the room first and sat down in his seat. Henry followed shortly after the first bell hit and Katie entered the room not far behind him. The three sat together and talked while Shiro gathered up their work for the day, smiling as Matt sat down in a seat next to his own.

 

It was when Lance entered before the late bell hit that Shiro realized something was up. Lance was always so loud and boisterous, dramatic as he sauntered in carrying coffee for the class.  
Today, however, he only smiled, stopping by each desk to drop off the caffeine fixes.  
“Lance? Are you alright?” Shiro asked, frowning. It deepened when the boy only nodded, grinning and winking as he turned to go back to his own seat. He scooted his chair closer to Keith and the second weird thing happened: Keith scooted his chair away.

Shiro glanced over to Matt, who shared his look but only shrugged, unsure of what was going on either. “Um,” the older man turned his attention to the class, no one seemed to be talking about what was going on, so Shiro passed out their work, muttering to them to get on it. 

 

He kept a wary eye on both Lance and Keith the entire time.

 

 

 

 

 

It wasn’t just them.  
Katie was quietly working, kicking her foot against her chair, and both her and Henry were both glancing over to the couple, eyes narrowing when Lance would reach for Keith, but Keith would lean out of his way. At some point, Lance had taken to sliding a piece of paper back and forth with his boyfriend. Katie pursed her lips, looking towards Henry, who shrugged and nodded.

Katie looked back down to her work, glaring, “Oh da-aaalmation!” Everyone looked over to her, eyebrow raised, Lance had a wide, cheesy grin on his face. “Don’t even look at me like that Lance.” The Cuban bit his lip, shoulders shaking with barely contained laughter.

“Laughter counts.” Henry said, not looking up from his work. “Just remember that.” Lance’s body tensed and he seemed to crumple on his desk, covering his head.  
Keith glanced over to him, before looking back down. “I’m so tired of school.” he mumbled, changing the subject. “I want to go home.”  
“You can’t leave, Keith.” Shiro said, looking over to the dark haired boy.

 

“I’m going to yoot out that window.” Keith looked up, staring Shiro dead in the eye, his face blank. Pidge snorted and Henry openly laughed. Lance’s shoulders shook as he looked up, his eyes full of amusement and betrayal.  
Keith looked over to his boyfriend, his face still expressionless and arched his hand up and over in the direction of the nearest window, his voice pitching higher than it really was necessary halfway through the word, “ _Yoot_.”

Lance bit his lip, but a sputter of a laugh came out and that was all it took. He slammed his head back down on his desk, cackling loudly. “Fuck you, Keith! Fuck you!”

 

“Lance is out!” Pidge shouted, throwing her hands into the air. “Fudge yes!”

 

“Keith cheated!” Lance pointed his hand at his boyfriend, who leaned away from the limb.  
“I did no such thing.” Keith said, looking back down, “Go back to your work, Lance.”

 

Lance groaned, grumbling about being out ten bucks before he went back to work.

 

 

 

 

 

Lance being able to talk again however seemed to break Keith. The black haired boy was hunched in on himself, head down as he tried to ignore his boyfriend, who was currently leaning close to him.  
“Keeeith!” Lance cooed, “Sweetheart. My darling dearest.”

“Fuck you, leave me alone.” Keith muttered. “Just because you lost doesn’t mean I am.”  
“But I want to hold your haaand.” Lance continued. “And I want to kiiiiiiss you. And hug youuuu.” He leaned closer with each sentence, Keith trying his best to scoot back. “Don’t you want me to hug you?”

“I’m not talking to you.” Keith gritted his teeth as he gripped his pen tighter than necessary.

“Keeeeeeith!” the taller boy moved, holding out his arms, but made no move to touch his boyfriend. “Cuddle meeeeeee.”

Keith gave out a whine, adjusting so he could raise his hand, turning his head and shielding his gaze from Lance.

“Love meeeeeee.” Lance continued. “Give me kisses!”

 

“Fuck!” Keith threw down is pen, glared at Pidge, muttered “fuck you”, then looked over to Lance, “fuck you too!” and promptly got out of his chair, shoving Lance’s chair back enough so he could sit in his lap.

 

“Keith, can you at least sit on the floor and not in his lap?” Shiro sighed, looking over at him.  
“Fuck you!” Keith wrapped his arms around Lance, the Cuban boy laughing loudly as he held his boyfriend close.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lunch time had rolled around before Shiro spoke to his little ragtag group of mischief makers.  
“So what exactly is going on?” he frowned as he watched Lance and Keith lean closer together. “Clearly you’ve all made bets against each other.”

“The pot is totalling forty bucks.” Katie said, taking her pickles from Keith. “Lance and Keith are out. Lance wasn’t supposed to talk and Keith wasn’t allowed physical contact with Lance.”  
“And you’re not allowed to curse.” Matt said, before looking over to Henry. “But what’s your thing?”

 

“Sorry, Hunk can’t disclose that information.” Lance said, throwing his arm around his friend’s shoulder. “It would spoil everything.”  
Henry nodded, “My lips are sealed.”

 

“And how long are you four going to be doing this?”

“Just for the day.” Keith said. “If there are more than one winner they’ll just split the prize.”

 

“And you can bet your sorry patooties I’m going to win!” Katie said, proudly.  
“You won’t last the day.” Matt said, gasping out loud when his sister took that moment to throw one of Keith’s discarded slices of cheese at him. “Takashi! I’m being assaulted!”

“How tragic.” Shiro said, reaching for a cookie and bit into it, ignoring Matt’s cries an the loud laughter from the children who sat at the table next to them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The group sat huddled together, having finished their work early, and were watching something on Pidge’s phone. Lance had his arms around Keith, who was leaning back into him comfortably, and he was leaning against Henry with Katie sitting in between his legs, her back against his chest.

 

Keith side eyed Lance, who gave a small nod, missed by Katie, but wasn’t unnoticed by Henry, who only rolled his eyes.  
“You know that’s bullshit.” Keith said. “Like, seriously? A giant, seven-foot moth, owl, man hybrid?”

 

Katie chewed her cheek, turning her head and glared hard at Keith. “Shut up. There’s so much evidence!”  
“Not really.” Keith shrugged, “I mean the first sighting could easily be proven to just be a normal owl that the two couples saw. Everyone after that who came forward were just wanting their fifteen minutes of fame. They don’t even have any pictures.”

 

Katie’s face burned red as she huffed, puffing out her cheeks. “I know what you’re trying to pull here, Seong, and I for one would like to politely tell you to go fornicate with a lawnmower.”

 

“Kinky.” Lance chimed, grinning before a quiet oof came out when Keith elbowed him in the gut.

 

“You believe in aliens!” Katie continued, pointing her finger at Keith, who only shrugged.  
“It’s dumb to think we’re really the only intelligent life out in the universe.” he said, “But this? Nah. His wingspan to body ratio is totally off for him to have the ability to fly. Plus, there’s no proof. Where’s the tracks? Feathers? Pictures?” He leaned forward. “Where’s the Mothman shit?”

 

“You’re a Mothman shhhhh-arktank!” The girl scrunched up her face, Henry and Lance beginning to snicker, although Henry was at least trying to be polite and hide his amusement.  
“And ghosts? Really?”

 

“You go ghost hunting with me!” she cried out, “You have fun!”  
“Well, yeah, of course. Because I know nothing will happen. Seeing you and Hunk both jump at every noise is pretty amusing, plus the places we go are really cool.”

 

“I cannot believe!” Katie stood up, “Our friendship is based on a mountain of lies!”  
“I told you when you first asked me to hang out and go ghost hunting that I didn’t believe.” The older boy smirked, “And your words were, and I quote,” he cleared his throat, “You hang out with us, Seong, and you’ll for sure change you mind.”

 

“I said _‘you’ll fucking change your mind’_!” Katie covered her mouth, eyes wide as Lance began to laugh louder, reaching out to Keith who gave him a high-five. “You fucking slut! I’ll kick your ass from here all the way to West Virginia and right into Mothman’s fucking _ballsack_!”

 

“Okay, quiet down.” Shiro said, sighing as Matt was trying desperately to hide how much his shoulders were shaking with laughter. “Back to your seats.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Near the end of the day, the group had for the most part fallen back to normal. Lance was loud, Keith was clingy, and Katie was free to curse whenever she wanted. Shiro, however, was still wary of what Henry’s bet was. No one had called him out on anything, but they were all sharing looks and glancing over at him every so often.

 

Henry frowned, knowing he was being watched, and squirmed in his seat. Lance narrowed his gaze, Keith raised his eyebrow at him and Katie gave a pointed look up towards the clock, where they only had an hour and a half left before they were all released from class.

 

Henry frowned, his face scrunching up as he looked down to his work, scribbling out his work as he tried his best to ignore his friends.

 

Shiro stared at the group, before looking over to Matt and lowered his voice. “What do you think is going on?”  
The younger man shrugged, “Beats me.” he muttered back, “But depending on who gave him his bet it can’t be good.”

“Well, let’s think about this.” Shiro sighed, “Henry probably gave Katie the _do not curse_ bet.”  
“Pidge definitely told Keith he couldn’t touch Lance.” his boyfriend added on, “So, that leaves Keith to give Lance his _do not talk_....” His words trailed off as the two adults looked towards the four children.

“So, what bet would Lance give Henry?” the black haired man asked, slowly.  
“It could be something really simple or really stupid.” Matt said after a moment of thinking. “And that’s truly terrifying.”

 

The two looked to one another, before they straightened up when someone cleared their throat.

 

Henry was raising his hand in the air, the rest of the group staring at him intently. Shiro raised an eyebrow, glancing over to Matt before he turned his full attention back to the boy. “Um, yes Henry?”

 

 

Henry lowered his hand, fidgeted a bit in his seat, before he looked square into the TA’s eyes.  
“I have to go make puddles and poodles.”

 

 

Chaos. That’s all Shiro was able to make out. As soon as Henry spoke, the other three lost it, laughing out loud. Katie had fallen out of her chair and Lance and Keith were trying to support each other, the latter slapping his hand against his desk, loudly.  
Shiro was going to get in trouble with all this noise.

“Quiet!” The older man frowned, waiting for the group to calm down, before watching as Lance, Keith and Katie all reached for their pockets, pulling out money and passing it over to Henry, who took it with a wide smile. “Henry, _what_ did you want?”

 

“Oh, uh,” Henry laughed, nervously, “I just had to do my dare.”  
“ _Ask to use the bathroom in the most ridiculous way_.” Lance said, wiping at his eyes. “And oh man, did you deliver Hunk!”  
“Did you just spend all day trying to think of the most idiotic way to ask?” Katie grinned, watching as Keith carefully counted out five more ones before handing Henry the money he owed.

 

“No, my moms’ neighbors have a dog and everytime we go over and she lets her dog out for the bathroom she asks him that.” Henry said, pocketing his win. “I just was trying to work up the nerve to actually say it.”

 

“Can you all please get back to work now?” Shiro asked, sighing softly. “You still have an hour left.”

 

There was a silence before Henry cleared his throat again.  
“I, uh, actually do have to go use the bathroom. Mr. Shirogane?”

 

Shiro groaned quietly, closing his eyes.

 

 

 

 

 

By the end of the day, Henry had said he’d take his friends out to eat and the four left, chatting excitedly and arguing about where they’d go, giving both Shiro and Matt a wave goodbye as they exited the room.

 

Shiro shook his head, sighing deeply. “They certainly know how to keep things interesting, don’t they?” he muttered, looking over to Matt, who was finishing packing away his things. “Just once I’d like to have a normal day with them, though, and not feel like I’m in a sitcom.”

“You’d be bored out of your skull if they were, and you know it.” the younger man grinned, sliding his bag onto his shoulder as he stood up. “Plus you’d think they were up to something the whole day.”

“You’re not wrong.” Shiro smiled and the two left the classroom, Shiro locking the door behind him. “So what do you want to do this weekend?”

“How about a nice, stay-at-home dinner and a movie date?” Matt asked, fluttering his eyes up to his boyfriend, who laughed.  
“Sure. Sounds good to me.”

 

“Race you to the parking lot?” The sandy-blond was already running ahead. “Winner picks the movie, loser has to cook!”

“Matt, stop running in the halls!” Shiro yelled out, but found himself running after him, regardless.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honest, I was never on the Conspiracy Theorist Keith HC Train  
> I'll give him a healthy interest in it where he finds them interesting tho


	12. I Spy with My Little Eye....

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They were trying to study, until Pidge looked out the window....

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this one is short  
> I just didn't know how to make it much longer...
> 
> I've already got a bit of the next chapter written so fingers crossed that my work doesn't murder my momentum

They weren’t going to get in trouble this week.

Not because they were turning over a new leaf, but they had tests upon tests this week. That’s why the group of four were huddled in the third floor library studying, books of all subjects laying around them as they tried to retain any and all information they could.  
Lance was chewing on his pencil, eyes narrowed at his notes. Hunk was quietly making flash cards for quizzing the group once they all were finished. Keith was flipping through his book, eyes scanning the pages until he found a passage that he needed and began to write it out.

Pidge had rubbed her eyes, exhausted and turned to look out the window. It was a nice day and she stood up, fussing with the window to tug it open a crack. They were near the back of the library, so the breeze wouldn’t affect anyone but them. As she opened the window, however, her eyes glanced down and she frowned.  
“Hey, I see Shiro.” she said. She only got a hum of acknowledgement from her friends, everyone too busy trying to get their brains to sponge up knowledge. She narrowed her eyes. Who was that he was with?

 

It took a moment, but she recognized the man. He’d been subbing for her language teacher. The man had introduced himself to the class as Adam, the board behind him having Adam Whaley. He then proceeded to charm the class as he went over the lesson plan so much easier than their actual teacher went over them.

 

She watched as the two men talked, Adam waving his hand around as Shiro stood there. Adam must have said something funny, for Shiro had thrown his head back in laughter. She wished they were closer so she could hear what was being said. Damn her curious nature.

Really. Damn it. Because the more she watched, her eyes began to bug out. Adam stepped closer to Shiro as the two talked, and Shiro either didn’t notice or didn’t care. Adam tugged the black forelock on Shiro’s head and their favorite detention teacher only gently swatted his hand away. The two stayed close together and Pidge wished the windows opened like normal ones and not outwards. She wanted to open it wider and try sticking out her head so she could hear what was going on. She could only watch as Adam wrapped his arms around Shiro and Shiro return the hug. Could only see from her, admittedly bad, angle as their heads got closer with the hug.

 

“Oh my God! Shiro’s cheating on Matt with Mr. Whaley!” She screeched.  
The rest of the group began shouting and clamouring around the window, only seeing the two men break apart and wave to one another as they walked away, over the shouts of the librarian, Ms. Prince urging them to be quiet.

 

So yeah. They weren’t trying to get in trouble this week, but when they got slips the following day that they were to report to their ISS room, Pidge couldn’t say she cared.  
She had a fucking bone to pick with their teacher.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I couldn't not bring Adam in here  
> Poor guy needs some attention


	13. Hell Hath no Fury

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiro's not sure why Katie's got a Murder Face or why Keith is acting cold towards him...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took a bit to post. My brain wanted to work on it, then decided it was going to do something else.

Shiro was late.

_Shiro_. He couldn’t believe how terrible the day had started out. He glanced down to his watch, noting he had five minutes to get to the class before the late bell sounded. He’d gotten an email saying that his usuals were scheduled for that day.

_Disturbing the peace in the Library_ the emailed reasons listed for all four of them. He had hoped so desperately that the multitude of tests would have settled them.

 

As Shiro rounded the corner he saw Keith, sitting down outside the door on his phone. “I’m so sorry.” he wheezed out, promptly grabbing his key and unlocking the door. “I had a late night last night.” Then add on top of that his alarms didn’t go off, and he barely woke up with enough time to shower and shave. His stomach was none too happy about only having two cold PopTarts but it would have to deal until lunch time…

Oh god he didn’t even pack lunch.  
 _Maybe I can run out for something._ He thought, pushing open the door and flicked on the lights. _Matt can watch them for a bit and I can buy us something._

 

He became aware that Keith hadn’t said a word to him. He looked over his shoulder, frowning as Keith took his seat, propping his feet up onto his desk and continued to type, eyes never leaving his phone.  
“Keith?”

 

Keith only grunted in response.

 

This day was not a good day for anyone, apparently.

 

 

 

**HardGay** : guess who finally showed up

 

**ShinyPidgey** : the asshole arrives

**HunkeyMunkey** : Are you sure you saw what you saw?

**HunkeyMunkey** : I mean, not that I doubt you but Shiro doesn’t seem like that kind of person. He seems really happy with Matt.

**ShinyPidgey** : I appreciate your concerns but i know what i saw, Hunk. he and mr Whaley were hugging and kissing and flirting down there.

**BestBoy** : we were on the 3rd floor pidge are u sure??

**ShinyPidgey** : we’re gonna find out!

**HardGay** : was matt out late last night?

**ShinyPidgey** : no why?

**HardGay** : shito said he was late cause he had a “late night”

**ShinyPidgey** : LKSFJASKLDJAIJDOAFJA

**ShinyPidgey** : I OVERHEARD WHALEY SAYING THE SAME THING TO MS. LUXIA

**ShinyPidgey** : SAYIN HE WAS TIRED CAUSE HE DIDNT GET HOME UNTIL 1AM

**HunkeyMunkey** : Maybe it was just a coincidence?

**HardGay** : coincidence my ass...

 

 

 

One by one the children all showed up, Matt showing up not long after Shiro unlocked the room. Lance coming in with his usual tray of coffee. He greeted Shiro as usual, but his smile seemed… off. He looked between both Shiro and Matt, before making his way back to his desk. He scooted closer to Keith, gently nudging at him.

Henry had been the same as Lance, but he looked more wary and exhausted. He kept looking at Keith and Lance, before turning his attention to Katie.

Katie had been glaring daggers at Shiro since she arrived. Shiro had looked over to Matt in concern, but the other man had only shrugged, whispering something about her maybe not getting enough sleep.

 

 

 

 

Shiro had to be going crazy. He had to. Keith and Katie were both whispering to each other, sneaking glances at Shiro, writing thing down. Lance and Henry were there, but seemed like they were arguing with the other two. Katie, at least, seemed far more adamant about whatever she was doing.

 

Now, Shiro had left to use the bathroom and had stopped at the vending machine to grab something. But he felt like he was being followed. He kept looking over his shoulder, but no one was there. He frowned, looking back ahead and pressed the correct buttons, watching as the package of Skittles slowly rolled forward.

And promptly got stuck.

 

Shiro blinked a few times before groaning, burying his face in his hands. “Why?” he mumbled. He heard a noise and looked up, seeing the machine shake before the bag was unstuck and fell down to be claimed. He looked over and jumped, seeing Adam smirking.  
“You know people die like that.” Shiro said, frowning. “You could have killed me.”  
“And yet here you are, bitching about getting your Skittles.” the other man teased. “Besides, you’re blocking the machine. Get your goods and let someone else have a turn.” Shiro huffed, leaning down and grabbed the bag. He frowned, whipping his head around.

He could have sworn he saw a flash….

“Hello. Earth to Takashi?” Adam nudged him, and Shiro straightened up.  
“Sorry. Just… it’s been a day.”

“I’ll bet.” Adam’s smile softened as he reached over, gently placing a hand on his shoulder. “I mean what I said yesterday. You want to ever take a day off, call me. We can bum around town and just act like idiots.”

“You wouldn’t even have to act.” Shiro laughed as Adam punched his arm.  
“Leave, before I call the police. Since apparently a six-year-old is out without adult supervision.”

 

Shiro waved and turned, heading back to his classroom. Inside, Matt was reading and the kids were sitting together. “Keith, get off your phone.” Shiro said, making his way towards his desk.

 

 

 

Lunch was relatively calm. The group of teens sat together, Keith and Katie doing their ritual of passing pickles but their conversation seemed to be low, not wanting to be overheard.

 

And that just threw up about twenty red flags. He glanced over to Matt, who hadn’t seemed to notice. He did, however, notice that Shiro didn’t have lunch and was proceeding to try and give him more than usual.

“Matt, seriously, I’ll be fine.” Shiro said, smiling softly. “I was thinking about making a quick run down to Burger King and just grabbing something.”  
“Uh, no. You’re going to eat this delicious food that I cooked with love and care.”

“Matt, those cookies are place-and-bakes.”

“And you _love them_!” Matt grinned and Shiro laughed, accepting them, “It’s fine. After school you and I can go get something to eat.” He smiled more as Shiro nodded, leaning to kiss his cheek.

 

More red flags popped up when none of the kids made any kind of sound. He glanced over to the table and frowned when he saw Katie glaring harder at him, her grip tight on the spoon as she stabbed at her pudding cup.

 

Dear lord, Shiro hoped that whatever was making her upset would never happen again…

 

 

 

The last bell rang out and Shiro watched as the group of kids slowly milled around, gathering their things before leaving. Only Lance and Henry wished him goodbye, Keith and Katie both just looking at him.

 

“Maybe we should see if they want to get ice cream?” Shiro said, standing up as he and Matt followed out of the classroom, the older man stopping to lock the door. “Katie especially seems to have been in a bad mood all day.”

“Isn’t Keith lactose intolerant?” Matt asked, raising an eyebrow.  
“I’m certain he’s got lactose pills on him. I’m also certain that hasn’t stopped him from eating dairy before.”  
“Touche.” Matt glanced down at his watch. “I’ll go catch up to them and ask. Meet you at your car?” When his boyfriend nodded, the two kissed and Matt hurried off down the hall to catch up to his sister and her friends.

 

Shiro made his way outside and towards his van, unlocking it and putting his stuff away when a voice called out behind him. He turned and smiled more. “Hey!”

“What’s up?” Adam grinned, walking over, slinging his own bag over his shoulder.  
“Seeing about treating a very pouty child and her friends to ice cream.”  
“Yeah?”

 

Shiro nodded, before smiling more. “Hey, why don’t you join us? Matt’s going to be coming with.”  
“Ah, yes. Matt.” Adam smirked, “I have things to discuss with him. Gotta embarrass you.”  
“Adam.”  
“Like that time in high school where you were trying to impress me by jumping from the bleachers into the school pool…”  
“Oh my _god_. Never mind. You’re not invited.” Shiro shoved at Adam, who only laughed and wrapped his arm around Shiro’s shoulders.

“Too bad. I’ll follow anyway and just _coincidentally_ run into you.”  
“I don’t know you.” Shiro covered his face, groaning while his friend laughed.  
“How about on Senior Skip Day when you _swore_ you could still fit in that tire swing at the park.”  
“I will make your death as slow as possible.”  
“Or when you were in that eating contest and vomited up all twenty-nine hot dogs after you won.”  
“I hate you.”  
“How about--”

 

“ _Are you fucking serious_?!” The two jumped, Adam having been leaning close and poking at Shiro’s cheek as he teased him. Katie was furious, pointing at them accusingly. “Fucking _Shito_!”

“Katie, watch your language.” Shiro frowned, but Keith stepped up next to her.  
“No, _fuck you_!” he spat, “You can’t even fucking wait until you’re not going to be around Matt to go and cheat on him?”

Matt blinked, “What?”  
“What?”  
“ _What_?”

 

“Yeah!” Katie pointed to her brother. “He’s dating my brother! But if he wants to _cheat_ then Matt can totally find someone better!”

“What?”  
“What?”  
“ _What_?!”

 

Shiro and Adam shared a look, Matt was completely lost, and then the two began to laugh.

“Okay, look.” Adam moved his arm from Shiro and held up his hands. “Shiro and I used to date.” he said, smiling, “But we broke up in college. He was moving and neither of us were confident in a long-term relationship.”

 

“When I found out Adam had moved here last month and was also a teacher here, we got together to catch up.” Shiro smiled. “He knows I’m dating Matt. We’re not trying to get together.”  
“I’m single as a pringle and absolutely loving it.” Adam puffed out his chest. “Got myself a cat and me and Tairo are very happy.”

“He’s convinced that he’ll just be a crazy cat lady the rest of his life.”

“I got one down. Just need about twenty-nine more!”

 

“What?” Matt scrunched up his face, before Shiro walked over to him, wrapping his arm around his boyfriend.  
“Matt, this is my friend Adam. Adam, this is my boyfriend Matt.”

“Hey.” Adam smiled, cheerfully. “It’s my duty to embarrass Takashi.”  
“You’re not coming with us.”  
“I’m inviting myself.”

 

“Wait.” Katie held up her hands. “You’re… _not_ cheating on my brother?”  
“You’re not an asshole who needs to get the shit beaten out of him from here to the next state?”

Shiro looked over to the two teens and frowned. “Do you guys really think that little of me?”

“I saw you _kissing him_!” Katie said, pointing over to Adam. “Yesterday!”  
“We were hugging.” Shiro frowned, “He just … did that thing where you kiss close to someone’s cheek.”

Adam nodded, “I’m from Spain. We kind of have that thing.”

 

Matt turned to look at Katie and Keith, frowning. “You two have been acting like assholes to Takashi because you thought he was cheating on me?”  
“Well… yeah.” Katie glanced down, Keith stuffed his hands into his pockets. “We just… we didn’t know how to tell you, so we’ve been trying to gather evidence.”

 

“Evidence?”  
“When I asked to use the bathroom I followed Shiro and took pictures of him when he ran into Adam at the vending machine.” Keith admitted. “I thought that he’d planned to meet him there.”

 

Shiro sighed, “While I appreciate the concern, you kids really shouldn’t be putting your noses into our relationship.” he said, and both Keith and Katie looked down, looking properly cowed by Shiro’s _I’m Not Mad, Just Disappointed_ look. “So as punishment, you four are all going to have to come with Matt and I and sit there while we’re the most disgusting couple you’ve ever seen.”

“And I’ll come too, because ice cream sounds good and literally no other reason.”  
“Adam _no_!”  
“Adam _yes_!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mutual Ex-Boyfriends Adashi is nice


	14. Lunch Run

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What? It's not like they _always_ get into trouble...

The woman heard her headset go off and smiled, tapping the button. “Hi, welcome to McDonald’s!” she said cheerfully.

 

The voice on the other end crackled but she could make out the young adult male. “Hey! Um, give us a second?” He then began to mumble to whoever was in the car with him.  
“Take your time and order whenever you’re ready.”

 

“They have _Pokemon toys_!” a voice called out. “ _Lance_!”  
“Oh, my God, Pidge!” the same voice from before, apparently Lance, sighed. “I’ll get you a kids meal.”  
“I want the chicken nuggets and a Zekrom!”  
“I don’t think they even know which one is Zekrom. Hey!--” There was the sound of scuffling, an oof, then the second voice was clearer.

“I want a chicken nugget kids meal! Fries and Coke! And I want the Zekrom! It’s the black one with wings!”  
“ _Pidge_! Sit down! Hunk, grab her!”

 

“I like having all my fingers.” A new voice spoke.  
“Can you make sure they give me the right one? Please?” The second voice, apparently Pidge, was continuing to talk. “Last time I asked for a toy, I asked for Bowser and they gave me Luigi! I get they’re both green but Bowser is a giant turtle!”

“Pidge! Back seat! Buckle!” Lance growled out in annoyance. “Tiny little monkey!”

 

A fourth voice broke through, “Uh, can I get two twenty piece chicken nuggets? And a McDouble? No cheese, though.”

 

The woman was biting her lower lip, quickly punching in the order. Behind her she heard her coworkers snorting and giggling as they worked on making the food.  
“Can I get a Sprite too? Medium’s fine.”

 

“Why can Keith crawl in your lap?” the third voice piped up. Pidge was the one to respond.  
“Because he’s always in Lance’s lap.”

“ _Gremlin I will turn this car around, no me pruebes_!”

 

“Can I just get a McChicken? Large fries.”

“Oh, yeah!” The fourth voice piped up, “Large fries for me, too!”

“Babe, can you just sit down?”

“What are we getting your brother?”

“That loser will probably want a Fish Filet sandwich…”

“One Filet-o-Fish!”

“ _Keith, let me order! I’m in the driver’s seat_!”

 

“Oh! Oh! Do they still have those Sweet and Spicy tender strips? I want some of those!”

“Fine! Four piece of the Sweet and Spicy Tenders, too.” Lance seemed to finally be back in control. “And I want a double quarter pounder and a Coke to drink. Medium.”

 

“Can I get you guys anything else today?” The woman asked, her voice shaking as she tried to act professional.

 

“Oh, what are we getting Shiro?” the fourth voice spoke up.

“Oh, man.” the third piped up. “I don’t know. What do you think he’ll like?”

“Fuck it, get him a Big Mac.” Pidge shouted.

“ _Pidge, language_!” Lance shrieked and the woman had to mute her microphone to keep her laughter silent. “One Big Mac and medium fries.”

 

“Lance! I want an M&M McFlurry!”  
“ _You’re lactose intolerant_!”  
“Please?”  
“I’ll get you an apple pie!”  
“ _Ugh_!”  
“One apple pie." a pause. "And an M&M McFlurry.”

“I love you!”  
“Take your pills and we’re _splitting it_!”  
“Still love you.”

“Will that complete your order today?”

“Yes, ma’am!” Lance said, seemingly relieved that the fiasco of ordering was over.

She politely gave the total and heard the car pull around. She was pleased to have little traffic to be able to see the group of four teenagers in the dark blue Jeep. The tanned boy in the driver’s side smiling as he handed over his card. They made polite conversation, Lance and his friends were doing well, apparently stopping to get lunch for some other people at their school.

The dark haired boy in the passenger seat’s eyes lit up when Lance handed him the McFlurry, hurriedly opening the spoon and took a large bite.

 

Once all the food was handed out, the woman smiled. “You all have a good day!”

“You too, thanks!” Lance said, waving to her before driving off. She closed the window and sighed, still grinning.

 

 

 

In the Jeep, the group of friends all made sure everything was right, before Lance turned onto the road and went back to school.  
“You think we should have told Matt we’re hanging out with him and Shiro for lunch?” Hunk asked, holding onto the bags of food. He was in charge of making sure no one stole any fries from anyone. Pidge was given her Kids Meal and was eagerly opening the Zekrom toy she got.

 

“Nah.” she muttered, smiling as she admired her prize. “It’s not like anyone besides us really get ISS.”

“Right?” Lance smirked, leaning over at the red light as Keith fed him a spoonful of McFlurry.

 

“What other idiots besides us ever get in trouble?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who indeed?
> 
>  
> 
> "no me pruebes" = "don't test me"  
> (or it should...)


End file.
